


Peace and Lamb

by Sensula



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sensula/pseuds/Sensula
Summary: Mary Lamb has a lot on her plate. She's come back to Maxville after a year away, she has to take care of her twin siblings, and she's starting a new year at Sky High with her mother's reputation hanging over her head. It helps to have friends in her corner, but won't people stop thinking she'll turn villain at a given moment? Maybe Warren gets it.





	1. Chapter 1

“Mary!” a little girl said as she ran into her big sister's room. She held a pink dress and a baby blue dress in her hands, dragging them on the ground. “I can't pick which dress I should wear to school tomorrow!”

            Mary Lamb looked at her little sister Suzy and smiled. “Blue. You look prettier in blue.”

            Suzy smiled and jumped onto Mary's bed. “Whatcha doing?”

            “Getting my things ready for school. Maybe you can help me.” Mary picked up a black top and a red tank top. “Which do you like better?”

            Suzy tipped her head to the side, as if giving it due consideration. “The red,” a small boy said, running into the room and jumping up on the bed next to his twin sister. He had shaggy black hair falling into his eyes, but pushed them out of his eyes.

            “She asked me,” Suzy said, glaring at him. She turned back. “Red.”

            “Perfect.” Mary put the shirt on her desk chair. “So, do you each have your outfits picked out, your bags packed with your school supplies, and what you want to eat for lunch tomorrow?”

            “Yup,” Randy said.

            “Yes,” Suzy said.

            Mary looked at her little brother and sister. “Really?” They nodded. “So if I were to look in your school bags, I would find everything in order?” They both nodded again. “Alright. Randy, I'm checking yours first.”

            “Wait!” he said, running out of the room. Mary chuckled and looked at her sister.

            “You can check mine.”

            Mary walked to her sister's room and picked up her Jetstream backpack. Inside were two folders, a notebook, and a few colored pencils in her pencil box. Suzy put her blue dress on a chair above a pair of black shoes and looked at her sister. “Told you.”

            “I know.” Mary put the bag down next to the chair. “But if I didn't check, Randy wouldn't run off to do what I'd asked.” She left Suzy's room and walked down the hall to the next room. She pushed the door open and found Randy stuffing a pencil box into his Commander back pack. He turned to look at her and quickly handed her the bag. Mary rolled her eyes at the mess he'd made, but he had everything he needed and so she zipped it up for him, putting it on the chair.

            “What are you wearing tomorrow?” Mary asked.

            Randy looked at his closet and grabbed jeans and a t-shirt from the floor. He put it on the chair and looked up at her. “Can we have Chinese for dinner?”

            “You're always thinking of food,” Suzy said.

            Mary laughed. “Alright. Chinese it is. You guys go ahead and pick what you want from the pamphlet. Remember to have your lists of what you want for lunch tomorrow, too.”

            Suzy and Randy raced downstairs while Mary finished with packing her own bag. With that done, she hurried downstairs to find her siblings fighting over whether to order white rice or fried rice.

            “We'll get a serving of each,” Mary said, taking the pamphlet out of their hands before they tore it. “What you two don't eat, Dad and I will split. Now circle what you want.” They did and Mary picked up the phone, dialing the number. As it rang, she put a pad of paper down. “Tomorrow's lunch. Write.”

            “Paper Lantern,” a man's voice said.

            “Hi,” Mary said. “I'd like to place a take out order.”

            “Shoot,” the voice said, sounding bored.

            “A serving of white rice, a serving of fried rice, dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, and General Tso's chicken.” Mary turned to Suzy and Randy, putting a hand over the speaker. “Anything else?”

            “Tacos!” Randy said.

            “That's Mexican, you idiot,” Suzy said.

            “Suzy, don't call him an idiot,” Mary said.

            “Yeah,” Randy said, sticking his tongue out.

            “Be nice, Randy,” Mary said.

            “Is that it?” the voice over the phone said. Mary jumped, forgetting about the order for a moment.

            “Uh, yeah. That's all.”

            “It'll be ready in ten minutes. You can pick up order 29 then,” the person said and hung up.

            “Rude,” Mary mumbled before putting the phone in the receiver. She turned the kids. “All right, guys. We can pick up our orders in ten minutes. How about we head to the library? Pick out a few books.”

            “Yeah!” Randy said, jumping to his feet.

            “Can we get Peter Pan for a bed time book?” Suzy said.

            “You already picked the last bed time book,” Randy said. “It's my turn.”

            Mary grabbed her wallet and phone, stuffing them into her pockets. “Randy's right, Suzy,” she said, walking to the front door and grabbing her keys from the hook. “It's his turn. But we better leave now.”

            Suzy and Randy race out of the house, leaving Mary to lock up behind them, and ran ahead of her as they made their way to the library. They didn't run too far ahead; Mary could still grab them, but she let them have their fun. If they spent their energy outside, they wouldn’t cause too much trouble in the library.

            Mary opened the door and her siblings raced to the children's section, allowing her to walk over to the fiction section and get a few books for herself. She found four books that would hold her for a while when Randy presented his choice. She took it from him and smiled. “Princess Fairy Tale collection,” she said. “This the book you want?”

            “Yup,” Randy said, grinning.

            Mary nodded and headed to the check out desk. The librarian smiled, telling her the date they were due back and slipping a reminder note into the pile. The Lamb siblings left and Suzy took the books, wanting to carry them to the Paper Lantern. When they reached the restaurant, Mary told them to wait outside while she picked up the order. They sat down on the sidewalk and opened up the storybook for bedtime. They were good kids, even if they did get into trouble now and then.

            Mary pulled the door open and walked up to the hostess podium. “I'm here to pick up order 29.” The woman nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Mary looked around at the restaurant, taking in the families and couples enjoying their meals. She felt a slight loss. After Mom's...incident, Dad had started to take extra shifts at work, coming home late and exhausted. That left Mary to take care of her siblings and the house. She didn't mind, knowing he was trying to bring home enough money to support them, but it would be nice to have a real family dinner once in a while.

            “Hey.” Mary turned to find herself facing a teenage boy taller than her with red stripes dyed throughout his pulled back black hair. He had strong features and his black eyes were prominent against his tan skin. He held out a plastic bag of food. “You just gonna stand there or are you gonna pay for this?” he said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

            She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of bills. He took the money, ringing the order up. Mary noticed that he had on a thick leather cuff and flames tattooed on his wrists. “Nice ink,” she said. The boy gave her a hard look. Was he that unused to being complimented?

            Mary's phone started playing “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics. She looked at the caller ID and hit the answer button, putting it to her ear. “Hey, Dad,” she said, smiling a bit. “I'm picking up Chinese. I got your favorite; egg rolls.”

            “Thanks, honey.”

            Mary paused at his apologetic tone. Her smile fell. “You're not going to be home again, are you?”

            “I picked up another shift at the paper. I'll be home in time to see you three off to the bus stop for school, okay?”

            Mary bit her lip and forced a smile. “No problem. I'll leave your share of food in the fridge. Take care of yourself.”

            “Will do,” Mr. Lamb said before he hung up.

            Mary closed her phone and stuffed it into her pocket. Looking up, she saw that the boy was still at the podium. His expression didn't change, but, by the look in his eyes, he'd heard everything. His hand was out and he dropped the change into her hand. “Thanks,” she said, pocketing the coins and taking the bag's handles. “Have a nice night,” she added, giving him a smile.

            “I'm hungry,” Randy said, looking at the bag as she walked out of the door.

            “Let's go home, then,” she said, deciding not tell them Dad wouldn't be home that night.

            The walk home was quiet and peaceful. Suzy was carrying the books and Randy wanted to carry the food, but Mary wouldn't let him, so he just held her hand. He hadn’t gotten to the stage of being ‘too cool’ to be seen with his sisters. Dinner was a fun affair with the twins chatting over each other about what they were going to do when school started and who they were going to sit with at lunch. Mary smiled at their enthusiasm, laughing a little when they started a small food fight. After dinner, Mary cleaned up the dishes while Suzy and Randy got ready for bed.

            She went up after putting the left overs away and found the twins waiting for her in Randy's bed. They were in their Pjs and had the book laying between them in the space Mary took for bedtime reading. With only a smile, Mary climbed into her spot and opened the book. Suzy and Randy leaned against her sides, looking at the book.

            “Which story do you want first?” Mary said. “You only get one for tonight.”

            “Cinderella,” Randy said. Suzy nodded.

            Mary turned to the story and began. By the time she finished the story, both of the little ones were asleep, so she slowly closed the book and set it on the bedside table. She slid out of the bed and picked Suzy up as Randy snuggled into his pillows. Mary carried her little sister to her room and put her to bed, making sure she didn't wake. When Suzy was settled, Mary went down to lock the door, make up their lunches for tomorrow, and then turned in herself. Tomorrow was a big day.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Suzy! Randy!” Mary called, saving some toast from being burnt and putting it on plates. “Come get your breakfast. And bring your book bags.”

            She could hear their twin feet racing downstairs and they ran into the kitchen. They climbed onto the kitchen island stools and started to wolf down their food. Mary had fixed them eggs, toast, and orange juice, though she'd also added coffee for herself. She saw that Suzy had a scrunchie on her wrist and smiled.

            “Want me to do your braid?” she asked. The girl nodded, her mouth full of food. Mary took the hair tie and stood behind her sister, pulling the hair back. After a quick finger comb, she worked it into a French brain and secured it at the end. It worked well with Suzy's dress. Good outfit for the first day of school.

            Mary, though, had chosen something different for the beginning of high school. She'd chosen her handmade black leather jacket with red embroidered flames up to the elbows and a corset lacing in the back. It matched her black leather pants, black boots, and blood red tank top. Her black satchel was sitting on the counter top, holding her materials for the first day of school. The entire outfit worked with her fire blue highlights that made her eyes pop. She'd had them in for a few weeks and was pleased that they had stayed bright after so long.

            The clock chimed the time and Mary swallowed the rest of her coffee. “Ok, you two,” she said, putting the dishes in the sink. “Grab your things. Your bus will be here soon.”

            “Where's Dad?” Randy asked.

            Mary paused in reaching for her camera. “Dad had to work another shift. He said he'd try to make it. So, go. Get your bags.” They ran off, she slipped her bag onto her shoulder, grabbed their lunches from the fridge, and they left the house to walk to the corner. It was the closest bus stop and a few younger kids were already there, talking among themselves. Only two parents were there to see their kids off.

            Suzy and Randy ran to talk to kids their own age, leaving Mary to stand by herself after greeting the parents. The teenagers that would be attending Sky High had a few more minutes to get here for their own bus, so it was just her for a bit. Mary was happy to see her siblings getting along with others. She took her Nikon camera out of her bag and started to take pictures of them. They noticed.

            “Mary,” Randy whined.

            “Do you have to do that?” Suzy asked.

            Mary smiled. “Yup. I'm supposed to embarrass you guys. It's my job.”

            The parents chuckled and the twins shook their head. The other kids, though, wanted their pictures taken, so Mary spent a few minutes playing photographer. The twins joined in a bit later, glad to see that no one thought their older sister was weird or embarrassing.

            The bus for the kids arrived and they started to get on. Mary handed Suzy and Randy their lunches, giving them hugs before they got on with their new friends. She waved to them as the bus drove off for more stops. With nothing else to keep them there, the adults walked off, smiling at Mary and wishing her a good morning. Now it was just her there. Dad hadn't showed up. Good thing she'd taken enough pictures for Mom. She didn't like missing important things.

            “Hey, stranger,” a red head said, appearing beside Mary. “Long time no see.”

            “Layla,” Mary said, giving the red head a hug. The plant powered teen was a sight for sore eyes. Mary pulled back and looked her friend over. “Great outfit.” True to her nature, Layla was wearing green and other flora related pieces. It made her look sort of like a hippie, but it was truly Layla.

            “Thanks. Chose a different style this year, I see. Is that what they’re wearing in France? ”

            Mary laughed. “I thought I’d go for a new look.” She looked at the boy next to Layla and smiled again. “Will.” She opened her arms for a hug.

            “Mary.” Will returned her hug. Despite his dad being Commander, Will's grip didn't threaten to break her back.

            She pulled back and raised an eyebrow. “Didn't get your powers yet?”

            “No,” Will said, shaking his head.

            “I'm guessing your parents don't know?”

            He gave mirthless chuckle. “Yeah, right. Can't wait for that talk.”

            “Hey, if you need a place to hide out, you can come to my house. The twins miss you.”

            He smiled a little. “I'll keep that in mind. How's your mom?”

            Though it had been years since Mom's arrest, it still ached a bit whenever she was mentioned. “She's doing fine. Wishes we could still spend more time together, but I took enough pictures so she'll be happy about my first day. Speaking of which, smile.” She raised the camera and snapped a few pictures of her friends.

            She lowered the camera just as a school bus pulled up to their stop. It looked like any other school bus, but it was probably the one to take them to Sky High, a school for super powered kids. The doors opened and they stepped on board.

            “Is this the bus for Sky High,” Will asked.

            “Shh,” the driver said. He pulled the doors closed, making Mary moved forward or get caught in them. “You want every villain knowing we're here? What's your name, freshman?”

            “Will Stronghold.”

            Mary hid her smile as the driver instantly switched to hero worship. His name was Ron Wilson, Bus Driver, it seemed. The three teens moved to the back of the bus. Zach, always dressed in bright colors to match his bright blond hair, stood up and slapped Will's hand.

            “Hey, man,” he said, then smiled at Layla. He spotted Mary and grinned. “Mary, you’re back! Digging the look. I missed my main Lamb.” He offered his fist.

            Mary laughed and bumped his with hers. “That joke's getting old, Zach. Couldn't you use something else? What about 'Mary, quite contrary'?”

            “It was the only rhyme I knew when I gave it to you. It's a Zach original.”

            Mary sank into the seat across the aisle and Layla sat down next to her. Zach turned to Will and began to discuss powers. Apparently he'd recently gotten his. He wouldn't tell, but made it seem like it was the perfect power. As long as he thought so, that's all that really mattered.

            “How was France?” Layla asked.

            “Amazing. Suzy and Randy made a lot of friends and loved going to the park. You would not believe how many crepes they made me buy. I swear it must have been enough to feed an army and they just packed it away like nothing.”

            “What about school? Did you meet any cute guys?”

            Mary laughed. “A ton. Their girlfriends loved me, too. They were all interested in the new American girl. I became their dress up doll, really, but I’m not complaining. Everything in my closet is from them.” Handmade originals from the future top designers. They were a big influence on her new style.

            Layla leaned close and lowered her voice. “Any boyfriend, then?”

            “Like I have time with the twins to take care of.”

“Are you telling me you were in the city of love and you didn’t meet one guy that made your heart skip a beat?”

“Sorry. Not a one. But everyone was pretty nice to me over there.” Mary smiled softly, remembering her old school. Even though she had only been there for a year, she’d felt accepted. The school had focused on a person’s talents in the arts and she’d thrived there with her photography and digital skills. She hoped Sky High might be a little bit the same, but she doubted it. In France, they didn’t know she was a super and they definitely didn’t know who her mother was.

            The sudden clicking and attachment of crisscrossing seat belts over her chest brought Mary back to her surroundings. She looked around and found a hand bar in front of her a few moments before the bus started to fall. Her hands grabbed the bar, her knuckles turning white. What kind of bus was this? There was a sharp jerk and large rocket boosters were suddenly propelling them through the sky. The vehicle looped up and over, coming back to an upright stable position. Mary’s head swam for a bit but she laughed with Layla once everything stopped spinning.

            “There she is,” Ron Wilson said from the front. “Kept up with the latest in anti-gravity technology, Sky High is in constant motion as a precaution against those who would have more nefarious plans for it. Its location is entrusted to only a handful of people. Like me; Ron Wilson, Bus Driver.”

            Mary looked down and saw a large school floating in the sky. Her eyes widened. That was Sky High. Amazing. If only Suzy and Randy could see it. They'd love it.

            They landed with a bump and the doors opened. Everyone departed, a few tripping over themselves and a few that looked a bit sick from the ride. Mary stepped off the bus and looked around at the students. The group of freshmen started to the school and, while they were walking, Mary saw two girls flying down from the sky, a girl freeze two guys after they shot eye beams at her skirt, and a cheerleading squad that turned out to be just one girl that could replicate herself. This place was fascinating.

            A breezy blur pushed her back against the Will as it rounded up all of the first years. Mary watched the blur until it stopped to reveal it as a stocky boy with a baseball cap and a smirk. Another boy joined him, doing a sort of stretch cartwheel down the main stairs.

            “I'm Lash,” the stretching boy said. He patted the other boy's shoulder. “This is Speed. As representatives of the welcoming committee-”

            “We'd be happy to collect that 15 dollar new student fee,” Speed finished as Lash extended his arm out.

            “There was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook,” a boy in orange said. Mary rolled her eyes. Didn't he get that they were trying to take his money?

            “Very funny, guys,” a girl in a very pink outfit said, walking up to them. “I'll take it from here.” She turned to face the group as the boys walked away. “Hey, everyone. I'm Gwen Greyson, your student body president.”

            Mary wanted to listen to the rest of the speech, but Lash was staring at her and making faces. Was he trying to charm her? That or he was sick.

            “If you keep those tips in mind, I promise you won't fall off the edge of the school,” Gwen said.

            Mary looked at her. What tips? She didn't have time to ask what the tips were, because they were all being led into the high school. They passed Lash and Speed. Lash gave Mary a look and she leaned toward him. “Maybe you should see the nurse,” she said. “You look a bit ill.” Speed's laughter followed the freshmen to the gym, where they received nametags.

            A woman in white stood on a platform and smiled. “Good morning. I am Principal Powers. On behalf of all the faculty and staff, welcome to Sky High.” Zach cheered and clapped, but was silenced by Powers' look. “In just a few short moments, you will go through power placement and your own heroic journey will begin.”

            “What's power placement?” Will asked softly.

            “It's to determine if you'll be on the Hero track or the loser track,” an Asian girl with purple highlights and purple and black clothes, said.

            “Loser track?” Will asked.

            “I believe the preferred term is Hero Support,” the boy in orange said. His tag said Ethan.

            “For now, good deeds and good luck. Let the adventure begin,” Powers finished. She stepped to the side and raised her arms dramatically. “Comets away!” She turned into a sparkling white ball and left the gym.

            “All right, listen up. My name is Coach Boomer,” a male voice said, making them turn around. A man in white shorts and gym jacket stood on a rising platform. “You may know me as Sonic Boom. I'll be calling your name and you will show me your powers. Yes, in front of everyone. I will determine where you will be assigned; Hero or Sidekick. Now, every year, there are a few, as I like to call them, whiner babies. There will be no whiner babies. My word is law. Are we clear?” A few students nodded. “I said are we CLEAR!” The last word was like a blast, the pressure making Mary take a step back.

            “Yes, Coach Boomer!”

           “You,” he pointed to a smallish boy with brown curly hair, glasses, and wearing a sweater vest. “Front and center.”

            The boy climbed up onto the platform, looking slightly nervous. He took his glasses off and stuck them in his pocket before flexing. Instantly, his body turned to rock and he became a bolder like creature. Mary smiled. That was one impressive ability.

            “Hero,” Boomer said. “Next.”

            “Watch this,” Zach said, tapping Mary's shoulder with the back of his hand. “I'm gonna blow your mind.”

            Mary watched as he walked up to the platform. Turned out that, when he clapped his hands, nothing happened. Well, not nothing. He said he could glow. Boomer called him a sidekick. When Zach argued, Boomer blasted him off the stage and the next person came up. The placement went on for a while. Magenta could turn into a guinea pig, Ethan could melt, and Layla refused to show her powers. All three of them made sidekick.

            The bell rang for lunch and Boomer released them. “We'll pick this up later,” he said. “Starting with you, Stronghold.”

  * •••



“Aren't you getting lunch?” Will asked.

            Mary held up her bagged lunch. “I got it covered. How about I grab us a table?” The others nodded and went to the lunch line while Mary looked around. There was one by the windows and she started over to it.

            A blur and a sudden breeze gave her the only warning before Speed stopped in front of her. Mary raised an eyebrow at his crossed arms and started to move around him, only to find Lash standing in her way. She looked at him. “I see you're feeling better. Did you see the nurse?”

            “Oh, you're funny, freshman,” Lash said, smiling.

            “I didn't know being sick was funny. But I assume you're feeling well enough to let me pass?”

            “This table is for Speed and myself. But we'd be happy to let you join us.”

            Mary bit her cheek at his attempt at flirting. His looks really did make him look sick. “Thank you, no. I'm eating with friends.”

            “We could be your friends,” Lash said.

            “I don't think so. Bye.”

            She turned on her heel and walked away before they could react. She saw that the others had already gotten their food and were looking for her. By this time, though, most of the tables were already filled. She saw one open and dropped her things on the top, claiming it before anyone else could. She raised a hand and waved it at Will, calling the others over. They sat down and Mary pulled out her peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich. She’d missed the combination. It wasn’t exactly as popular in France as it was in America.

            “What did Lash and Speed want?” Ethan asked.

            “They wanted to be friends. I turned them down.”

            “What if they come after you?” he asked, sounding frightened. He was probably the usual target for bullies.

            “I think Lash is trying to flirt with me. But I can't really tell. Whenever he tries to pull a move, he looks like he's sick.”

            “Yo, he needs a few lessons from the love doctor,” Zach said, giving a flirtatious grin and leaning on the table close to Magenta.

            She looked up from her sandwich. “If you're him, I think Lash is better off.”

            Mary covered her mouth to hide her grin, but the rest of the table started laughing.

            “Okay, am I crazy, or is that guy really looking at me?” Will asked when the laughter had died down. Everyone turned to see that Will wasn't crazy; there was someone looking at him. What was interesting was that Mary knew him. It was the guy from the Paper Lantern. His hair wasn't pulled back in a ponytail and fell to his shoulders and he was dressed in a black leather jacket, fingerless gloves, a red shirt, and black jeans. It was a bit like Mary's own style. The boy didn't notice that everyone was staring at him; he only glared at the back of Will's head.

            “Dude,” Zach said.

            “What?” Will asked.

            “That's Warren Peace.”

            Mary blinked. Warren Peace? Interesting name. Better than hers. But it sounded familiar.

            “That's Warren Peace? I've heard of him,” Layla said. “His mom's a superhero and his dad's a villain. Barron Battle”

            “What does that have to do with me?” Will asked.

            “Your dad put his dad away for life,” Ethan said. “Quadruple life sentence.”

            “No chance of parol until after his third life,” Magenta finished.

            Mary sank a little inside. That was tough.

            “That's great,” Will said. “It's my first day of Sky High and I already have an archenemy.” He put his apple juice down on his tray. “Is he still staring?”

            Layla shook her head. “No.”

            “No?”

            “No.”

            Will turned around and found Warren still staring. “I thought you said he wasn't looking,” he said, looking back at his tray.

            “Well, look on the bright side,” Magenta said. “At least it's not Nightmare's kid.”

            Mary stiffened, her sandwich halfway to her mouth.

            “Nightmare?” Will asked, both he and Layla shooting a quick look at Mary.

            “Barron Battle use to work with another super villain for a time. Her name was Nightmare,” Magenta said.

            “I know her,” Ethan said. “She has the ability to use your dreams against you. They say she enjoyed playing with people before she attacked them in person. The Dreamer busted her a few years back. Can't remember what she got, but at least it wasn't your dad who took her down or her kid might have teamed up with Warren in hating you.”

            “Mary?” Magenta asked. “Are you alright?”

            Mary looked down at her sandwich in her hands, which she managed to crush until it was a mass of bread and goop. Marshmallow fluff was all over her hands and she dropped it back into the plastic bag she'd wrapped it in that morning. “Fine,” she said. “Interesting topic, is all.”

            “You've had a run in with Nightmare?” Ethan asked. “And lived?” His eyes widened in awe.

            “Something like that,” Mary said before grabbing her apple and biting off a chunk.

  * •••



Back in the gym, Will stood on the platform, looking nervous. He turned to Boomer and whispered something in his ear.

            “What do you mean you don't know what you power is?” Boomer asked. Will gave a sheepish laugh, looking over the whispering crowd. “Oh, I get it,” Boomer said. “You're messing with the coach. Just like your old man. Car.” He pushed a button on a device and a car fell from the ceiling. Will managed to get on the ground before it could crush him. Mary winced. That could have been messy.

            “Are you crazy!?” Will crawled to the side of the car, looking up at the coach. “I don't have super strength.”

            “You don't?” Coach said, pushing a button to take the car back into the ceiling. “Oh, you're a flyer, like your mom. Why didn't you say so?” He pushed another button and Will was thrown into the air. He hit a steel column and fell down the bleachers. Mary hissed at that one. “Look, Stronghold, I don't have all day. What’s you're power.”

            “I don't have one,” Will said, sitting up.

            “Stronghold,” Coach said. He pointed with his hand and boomed out, “SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDKICK!” It made the whole school shake and Mary wobbled, trying to stay on her feet.

            When the shaking had stopped, Layla went over to help Will. Boomer shook his head. “Take him to the nurse,” he said. “You, Blue Streaks. You're next.” Mary slipped her bag off her shoulders and walked up the platform. “Tell me you actually have a power.”

            “Yes, sir. Force fields and I feel no pain.”

            “Car,” he said, pushing the device again. Mary crouched down, forming a force field over her body. The car hit her barrier and crumbled around her. Once each piece had fallen to the platform, she stood up and dropped the field. “Hero,” Boomer said. He looked at his clipboard. “Name.”

            “Mary Lamb.”

            Boomer looked up at her, lowering the clipboard. “I was wondering when I would be getting Nightmare's kid in my school.” The crowd went overtime with gossip and whispering. Boomer allowed it. “Next,” he called.

            Mary stepped off the platform, walking to where her bag was. The students parted out of her way, watching her with trepidation and concern. What? Did they think she was going to kill them all? She wasn't a villain and had no plan on being one. She picked up her bag and turned. Ethan and Magenta were staring at her. Zach gave a slight comforting smile.

            “Sorry about what I said about your mom,” Ethan said. He sounded a bit scared, but at least he was trying not to be and he seemed to be genuinely sorry.

            “It's fine,” she said. “You didn't know.”

            “You made Hero, though,” Zach said, offering his fist. She smiled and bumped it. “Your parents are going to be so psyched.”

            She nodded. “Still friends, though?”

            “Are you kidding? I've been making you cool since kindergarten. You're a long-term investment, girl. I'm not quitting now.”

            “I've already decided that you don't annoy me,” Magenta said with an uncaring shrug.

            Mary smiled. Everyone else was going to know who she was by tomorrow, so knowing who her friends were now helped. She reached into her bag and pulled out a camera. Zach pulled Magenta and Ethan in for a picture, smiling brightly. Ethan looked a little timid and Magenta gave a bored roll of her eyes before giving a slight smile. Mary took the picture.

            Power Placement finished up by the end of the day. During that time, only Magenta, Ethan, and Zach were brave enough to come near her. Even the other Heroes didn't dare come close. When they were released to the busses, Mary kept to her group. They met up with Layla and Will at the bottom of the main stairs.

            “How'd it go?” Layla asked.

            “Made Hero,” Mary said. “But now everyone knows who my mom is.”

            “Oh,” Will said. “That's going to get weird.”

            Mary nodded. “At least these guys didn't jump ship.” She smiled at the others. They grinned as they got on the bus. “How did it go with the nurse?”

            Will sighed and told her what Nurse Spex had said about his powers maybe never coming. The ride home wasn't as dramatic as the ride to the school and they came to Mary's stop. She got off with Will and Layla.

            “I'll see you guys tomorrow,” Mary said as the other two walked off. She had to wait for Suzy and Randy's bus, so she took out her camera and leaned against a light post, deciding to kill time by looking through her pictures. She smiled at a few ridiculous ones of Zach. He really hadn't changed much since grade school.

            She flipped through more and stopped on one. It was a tilted picture she'd been trying to take a picture of Will when she'd turned around in the hallway, but got more of the person behind him. It wasn't a bad picture, but the subject of it wasn't what she had been expecting. Warren Peace was glaring at Will, but Mary stared. He really was attractive. He’d be a perfect model for some of her friends’ designs.

            Warren Peace. The name was interesting. She wondered what he was like. She remembered a little bit about his father, Barron Battle. He'd come to the house a handful of times to talk to her mom. He'd seemed like a nice guy and had been really nice to her, even though she had only been about four at the time. When he’d stopped coming around, she just thought he was busy. It wasn’t until later that she’d learned that the Commander had sent him to jail. She hadn't really thought about him until today. Maybe he was locked up with her mom? Though it was an odd thought to be giving her comfort, Mary couldn't help but smile. At least Mom would have a friend in prison.

            She was jerked out of her thoughts as the twins' school bus pulled up. She looked up and lifted the camera as the doors opened. Her brother and sister got off the bus and she started snapping pictures.

            “Mary,” Randy said. “You're embarrassing us.”

            She stuck her tongue out him as Suzy waved goodbye to her new friends. “I'm your big sister. It's my job. How was school?”

            “Awesome,” Suzy said, grabbing her hand as they walked home. “We made a lot of friends and your lunch was great and my teacher's so cool. She has a pet rat in the class and his name's Squeaky. Mrs. Jen let me hold him.”

            “Great,” Mary said. She looked at her brother. “What about you?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Randy got into a fight,” Suzy said.

            “What?” Mary said, stopping to look at her brother. He bowed his head, using his long hair to hide his face. “Randy, what happened?”

            “He made fun of Mandy Barker's last name and she punched him.”

            “Tattle tale!” Randy yelled at his sister.

            Mary knelt down on the sidewalk, looking at her brother. “Randy, are you hurt?” He shrugged, looking anywhere but at her. “Randy.”

            “I wasn't trying to be mean. I just thought her name was funny. She thought mine was, too, but I didn't punch her when she said that.”

            “Why did she punch you? Was it because of you making fun of her name?”

            Randy was quiet for a moment. “I said I liked her and she punched me.” Suzy started to laugh. “It's not funny!”

            Mary bit her lip and quickly schooled her expression. “Randy.” He looked at her and she put her hands on his shoulders. “I think I know what's going on with Mandy.”

            “You do?” Randy asked.

            “Yup,” she said, nodding. “She likes you.”

            He stared at her. “She punched me!”

            “And with grade schoolers, punching or annoying someone sometimes means she likes you. Just ask her if she likes you, too.”

            “What if she doesn't like me?”

            “Then don't worry about it. You're a young and handsome guy. There will be others out there.”

            Randy paused, then shrugged. “I guess.”

            Mary smiled at her brother. “Hey, how about we reheat some Chinese and watch a movie before doing some homework?”

            “I pick the movie,” Suzy said.

            “I do,” Randy said.

            “First one back gets to pick,” Suzy said before dropping her backpack and racing toward the house.

            “No fair!” Randy said, dropping his own bag and racing after his twin.

            “Guys!” Mary said, but they ignored her. Sighing, she picked up their bags and followed. Mary stopped by their mailbox as her siblings fought over who had touched the door first. There were a few bills and magazines. She tucked them under her arm and turned, stopping when she saw Warren Peace walking up their sidewalk. He had his head down and didn't see her.

            “Mary!” Suzy yelled, bringing her attention to her front yard. Randy was growing red in the face. This wouldn't be out of place on an average kid, but Mary had seen something similar with Suzy. Randy was getting his powers. Being teased by his twin was probably what triggered the change.

            Mary dropped her things on the sidewalk and raced to her brother. “Suzy, get inside,” she said as she grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her. “Randy. Take deep breaths. Calm down. It's alright.”

            “She keeps making fun of me,” Randy said, his face growing redder and his body warmer. “It's not funny.”

            “I know, baby. I'll talk to her. But you need to calm down. Can you do that for me?”

            He grew hotter under her hands, but Mary didn't let go. She kept constant eye contact with him. Randy suddenly had flames covering his body. A hand reached out and grabbed the boy's wrist. Mary was about to pull her brother away from the stranger until the flames vanished and Randy fell into her arms.

            Mary caught him and pulled him to her chest, checking for a pulse. It was steady and he gave a slight snore. She sighed in relief; he was only asleep. She looked at the owner of the hand to thank him and found Warren Peace standing beside her.

            “He'll be out for a while,” he said, looking at the boy. “The first fire up is always the most tiring.”

            “What did you do?” Mary asked, pulling off her jacket and wrapping it around Randy as she stood up.

            “I forced his flames out.” Warren looked at her hands. “You're burned.”

            She looked down and saw the blackened blisters covering her hands. Mary turned them over and shook her head. “It's fine. I can't feel pain.” She looked at Warren. “Thanks for helping my brother. I didn't expect him to get his powers so early.”

            Warren gave a slight nod and Mary shifted Randy so his head was on her shoulder. There was an awkward silence between the two of them. It was broken when the front door opened and Suzy popped her head out. “Is he okay?” she asked in a small voice, her worried eyes trained on Randy.

            Mary turned to her sister and smiled softly. “He's just asleep.”

            “I didn't mean to,” Suzy said, tears rolling down her cheek. “I was just playing and then he started to get red and-”

            “I know, honey. You didn't mean to.”

            Suzy sniffed and looked at Warren. Instantly, she ran behind Mary's legs, grabbing her sister's burnt hand. Warren frowned slightly at her reaction. “Sorry,” Mary said. “She's shy around new people.” She looked at him. “I'm so sorry. You were probably heading home.”

            “Work.”

There was another pause.

            “Is he your boyfriend?” Suzy asked from behind her legs. Mary blushed and wished her sister was back inside.

            Warren raised an eyebrow as he looked at the little girl. “No.”

            Suzy nodded. “Would you like to be?”

            “Suzy, could you pick up the book bags and mail and take them inside, please?” Mary asked quickly. “I'll be in to start dinner soon.”

            The little girl looked at her big sister before grabbing the things in her small arms and walking into the house. She turned around in the doorway. “Mary would make a good girlfriend,” she said before closing the door.

            Mary turned to Warren and cleared her throat. “Sorry about that. She means well.”

            He shrugged, looking awkward again. He waved a hand at Randy's sleeping form. “He'll need to sleep for a while and will have a slight fever when he wakes up. Give him something easy on his stomach, like soup or toast, and a cold shower will help bring his temperature down. He'll be good as new in the morning.”

            Mary smiled. “Thanks. Again. Anything else I should look out for?”

            “He might set his bed on fire a time or two. Best to keep water or an extinguisher nearby.”

            “Will do.”

            “Get that looked at, too,” Warren said, nodding toward her hands. He looked confused at her suddenly healed hands. There wasn’t a single blister or blemish.

            “Suzy has the ability to heal other people's wounds,” Mary said, noticing his confusion. She flexed her fingers. “Good as new.”

            Warren raised an eyebrow before turning and walking back down the street.

            “Thanks, Warren,” she called. It made him pause a step, but he kept walking.

            Mary turned and carried Randy into the house. Suzy was sitting in the hallway. She looked up, her eyes watering. “I'm sorry.”

            “I know, sweetie,” Mary said. “Give me a hand getting your brother to bed?”

           

 


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Randy was over his power induced fever. Thankfully, he hadn't set the bed on fire, but Mary had put the fire extinguisher next to his room for future use. Suzy had cried for a while. Mary held her until she, too, fell asleep, and then put her to bed. She stayed up a while, doing homework, looking over the schedule the school had emailed her, and downloading the pictures from her camera onto her computer. Dad needed to know what had happened, but he didn't show up. She'd fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him.

            Mary didn't have time to completely change from yesterday's outfit when she woke up, so she just grabbed a dark blue top, brushed her hair out, and refreshed her make up before sliding her jacket on. That gave her enough extra minutes to make a quick breakfast for the twins and prepare their lunches. When they came down, they were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Mary managed to get them out just in time to catch on the bus. As she leaned against a nearby light post to catch her breath, she hoped Randy wouldn't set anything on fire.

            “You okay,” Will asked, walking up with Layla.

            “Yeah. Just tired.” She gave them a smile. “Hey, how did your parents take the news that their son was a sidekick?”

            “He chickened out,” Layla said.

            “How was I supposed to tell him when he showed me the Secret Sanctum?” Will asked.

            Mary shook her head. “That’s rough. But they'll eventually know.”

            “What did your dad say when he found out you got Hero?” Will asked, trying to change the subject.

            She was saved from answering by the bus showing up. The doors opened and she climbed on board. Unlike yesterday when everyone didn't look up when they got on, they all stared as Mary walked to an open seat. A few people shied away from her.

            School wasn't much better. She walked down the hallway to her locker and people stopped to stare and whisper. Will and Layla tried to brush it off, and it worked for a while, but then they walked into their sidekick classroom and she was off to the Hero classes. Because of her grades from her last school, she’d been allowed to jump to the sophomore class instead of starting with the freshmen. So she was even more out of place being a grade ahead as well as a villain’s kid.

            The bell rang and Mary walked into her first class, which was Mad Science with Mr. Medulla. She walked to the back of the room, keeping her head high but wishing that the looks getting would stop. The news of who her mother was had really hit the school. As more students started filing in and taking their seats and Medulla started the class, Mary turned her attention to her notebook, ignoring the empty seat beside her. The rest of her morning classes went the same way. The seat beside her would remain empty and she would focus on her notes. When the bell rang for lunch, Mary couldn’t get there fast enough.

She grabbed the first empty table she could see and quickly spread out her packed lunch to show she had claimed it. No one contested her. She munched on a carrot and scanned the crowd for her new friends. After a morning of looks ranging from scorn to fear, a smiling face would be welcomed. She spotted them and waved. It took them a moment to see her and they waved back. In that moment, though, she’d seen their laughter and carefree attitude. Would she get to have that when they weren’t around? Would there be anyone else who saw past the label of ‘villain kid’ and saw Mary Lamb? Mary quickly threw those thoughts aside as the others set their trays down.

“Hey,” she said cheerfully. “How’s it going? Classes good?”

“They would be so much better if you were there with us,” Layla said.

“I’d rather be in your classes than mine.”

“Is someone giving you trouble?” Zach frowned. “If they are, you point me in their direction. I’ll set them straight.”

Mary smiled. She knew perfectly well that Zach didn’t have the skills to set anyone straight. But it helped to know he would do it anyway for her. “Thanks, but I don’t think they deserve that just yet.”

Zach nodded. “True. I could get carried away. But you let me know if I need to bust a few heads.”

“Will do, Glow Man.”

Conversation moved on to other things, but Layla leaned closer to Mary. “Are you ok?”

Mary nodded slightly. “The morning was a bit rough, but I’ll be fine. I’m glad to see you all doing well.”

Layla rested her hand on her shoulder. “Things will get better. Just wait and see.” Mary gave her friend an encouraging smile and nodded, though she doubted things would change anytime soon.

The rest of lunch passed and it was too soon that Mary had to part ways with her friends. She gave them a cheerful send off and continued to her next class. The pattern of the empty chairs and avoidance continued until her language class. There was an option of having a free study period or taking a language class. Mary had chosen French to keep her skills sharp. More students came in, avoiding her place in the back. She opened her notebook, ready to take notes, and purposefully put on the air that the empty seat next to her didn’t bother her. The bell rang and the teacher turned to the class.

“Bonjour! My name is Monsieur Gérard. Welcome to French 3. Today-”

The door opened and Warren Peace walked in. He didn’t give a reason to his tardiness, he just glanced around the room and made for the seat next to Mary. She would have been happier about his choice if it wasn’t the last seat available. He slouched in his chair and flipped his notebook open. Monsieur Grérard continued with the lesson, covering what the assignments and tests would be like and how things would be graded.

“Now, I want you to turn to the person next to you. Get to know them because you’ll be working a lot with them through the year. Think of it as a good chance to brush up on your French after the summer break.”

Mary turned to Warren. “Bonjour. Je m’appelle Mary Lamb. Comment vouz appelez-vous?”

He rested his chin on his palm and stared at her. “Bonjour. Je m’appelle Warren Peace.”

Mary blinked and continued in French. “Your accent is wonderful. Do you practice French often?”

He paused. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about himself? Mary was ready to retract her question but he answered, also in French, “My dad is half French. My mom insists I know the language for prison visits to make him happy.”

Mary smiled. “I’m sure he appreciates it.” She knew that her mom loved her kids’ presents when they came to visit. Mary would do anything to make her mother smile if she could. Straightening in her seat, she asked, “Do you speak any other languages?”

“Chinese.”

“Wow. That’s pretty awesome.” Warren stared at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. Mary shifted in her seat. Had she said something wrong?

“This is a level 3 class. How do you speak French so well?”

She relax a bit, glad that she hadn’t offended him. “My dad had a job in France, so we lived there for a year. I picked it up pretty quickly after a while and managed to test up to this class. Randy’s practically fluent, too.”

Warren nodded. His eyes darted around the classroom, checking on the other groups who were stumbling their way through their conversations. He turned back to Mary and she was surprised to see his gaze had softened slightly. “How is he?” His voice was lower, as if unsure he should be talking about Randy’s sudden power development.

Mary matched his tone level, following his lead and keeping the conversation in French. “He’s good. His fever broke early this morning and he was well enough to go to school. Suzy was a little upset. I think she’ll be watching him closely today. Probably get on his nerves a lot.” She paused and shifted in her seat before meeting his gaze head on. “Thank you for helping him. I don’t really know what I would have done if you hadn’t stepped in. His power’s way different than mine or my sister’s.”

Warren slowly nodded. “Pyros get a bad reputation. If he can control his temper, he should be fine, but it’ll get away from him at times.” He pushed a bit of hair out of his eyes. “Just be patient while he learns.” His gaze was intense; reaching out to her and hoping she would be open to taking his advice.

Mary nodded. “I will.” Warren only nodded.

The bell rang, dismissing them. Monsieur Gérard called out the homework of reading the next chapter as the students left. Warren shoved his things into his bag and left. Mary made a stop at her locker before heading to the gym. The last period would either be power training or Save the Citizen. Since the game usually only happened twice a week, it was power training today. Either way, it would mean the Hero and Hero Support classes of all grades would be having class together. She would be able to see her friends.

A breeze brushed some of her hair over her shoulder and Speed smiled at her from his sudden appearance in front of her. Mary tried to step around him, but Lash smiled as he stretched into the spot.

“Hey,” he said. “Wanna walk to gym with us?”

“I’m good, thanks.” She tried to step around him, but he put his arm out, blocking her path.

“Now, see, if I didn’t have such thick skin, I might think you didn’t want to hang with us.”

“Our kind need to stick together, you know,” Speed added.

Mary narrowed her eyes at them. “What do you mean ‘our kind’?”

“Villains,” Lash said, leaning into her personal space. “You come from quality villain stock. We could be unstoppable together.”

Her fingers curled around the edge of her textbooks. “No thanks.” She shoved his arm out of her way and continued on. But Lash stretched out his arm, wrapping it around her waist and pulling her back to them.

“Listen, Lamb. High school can be a pretty rough place. Especially with a mom like yours. People are going to reject you; avoid you. But we’ll accept you. We know how great you can be.” Lash draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side. “We could be great friends.”

His touch made her skin crawl and she shoved his arm off her. “Not interested,” she said, stepping away.

Speed appeared in front of her. “You sure you want to turn your back on us?”

She glared. “Positive.” He shifted and she prepared herself. If he wanted to fight, she would give him a fight.

Lash gripped his friend’s shoulder. “Leave her. Not worth the trouble.” Speed stepped back. Lash met Mary’s gaze. “You’ll come to regret that decision, Lamb.”

“Doubt it.” She watched them until they turned the corner in the hall. Her shoulders dropped as she exhaled, leaning against the lockers. Would she have to keep her defenses up from now on? They could come after her for defying them. But she wasn’t going to give into them. She would never be a villain. But she would be late for gym if she didn’t move now. Gathering herself, she pushed herself away from the wall and hurried to class. When she arrived at the gym, she found herself quickly assigned to Warren Peace while her friends were placed on the other side of the room with other classmen.

Once Coach Boomer explained that the day would be simply getting used to their new training partners who would be helping with basic stretches, Mary turned to Warren. “I guess we’ll be paired until the end of the year in this class, too?”

“Until the end of the month,” Warren said, stretching his arms. “We’ll rotate with other Heroes and sidekicks each month throughout the years unless we request a certain partner. It’s to help determine who we work with after graduation.”

“But aren’t we in a different class than some of the sidekicks? We’ll graduate before a few of them, won’t we?” Mary mimicked his stretching.

Warren sighed. He obviously didn’t want to explain everything. “We rotate with those in our own grade. But for the first month, freshmen are assigned to an upperclassman to learn how things go. Even though you’re in a sophomore class, you’re still a bit of a freshman. Boomer can’t be bothered to teach us, so we teach ourselves.”

Mary frowned. “That doesn’t seem productive.”

“Yeah, well that’s how it goes.” Warren moved on to stretching his legs and Mary followed. The stretches felt good and she started to lose the pent up energy from the Lash and Speed run in. The two villains were moving their arms and legs to look like they were stretching, but she knew they were watching her from their other side of the gym. Mary kept them in the corner of her eye. If they were going to pull something, she wanted to see it coming.

The bell rang for the end of school and Warren left without another word. Mary collected her bag and joined her friends as they headed to the school bus. Tonight, she was going to get the kids to bed, read the next chapters for her class, and sink into a hot bubble bath before crawling into bed. Oh, bed. What she wouldn’t give to be there now, with the sheets pulled over her head to shut the world out.

***

The bus came to a stop, letting her, Will, and Layla out before driving away.

“Would you like to come over?” Will asked. “Mom and Dad would like to see you all again.”

“Maybe another time. We’re still unpacking from the move.”

“Ok, but it should be soon.”

Mary waved to her friends as they retreated down the street. Once they were out of sight, she sat down on the sidewalk and leaned against the light post, her eyes closing as she tilted her face up to face the sun. High school was infamously dramatic for all teenagers, but one full of supers was worse. She could still hear the whispers of ‘Nightmare’s kid’ and ‘sure to follow in her footsteps’ that had followed her in the hallways. Whatever happened to the sins of the parent not being the sins of the kids? Did no one think of that?

            “Mary, are you ok?”

            She opened her eyes and smiled at the twins, two of the best things in her life. If she didn’t have them, she was sure she would go mad.

They stared at her in confusion. Mary dramatically sighed, raising her shoulders up and down with the motion. “Oh, I’m just out of energy. I’ve been away from my favorite people too long. I must recharge.”

            “Mary,” Randy groaned, rolling his eyes while Suzy giggled and dropped into her sister’s lap. Her small arms wrapped around Mary’s neck and she gave a little squeeze.

            “Oh, my energy is returning!” Mary hugged her sister and grinned. “The power of love! I can move again! I need more energy. Quick! Help me recharge.” She held out an arm to her brother.

            The other kids at the bus stop laughed. Randy’s face turned red and he groaned again. “Mary. Stop it.”

            She stood, slipping Suzy onto her back where she clung to her tightly. “Must recharge!” Mary held her arms out and advanced toward her brother. He backed up, shaking his head. “You can’t escape.” She chased him around the light post a few times, much to the enjoyment of the other children and the few adults that had come to pick up their kids. Mary stopped and turned, catching Randy before he could change directions. She lifted him the air and then hugged him tightly to her chest. “Yes! Maximum charge! It’s a win for the power of love!”

            Randy struggled a bit and then sagged. “I hate you,” he grumbled.

            “No you don’t. You love me. Just like I love you.”

            “You’re the worst sister ever.”

            “Oh, poor Randy. Are you tired of too much love from your amazing big sister?” Mary planted a big kiss on his cheek. Suzy laughed as Randy squirmed. “Tough, little man.” She set him down and watched him wipe his cheek with the back of his hand. Mary helped Suzy off her back and they grabbed their things. They said good-bye to the others at the bus stop and headed home.

            “Why do you have to embarrass me,” Randy whined.

            “Because I’m your big sister.”

            “I like it,” Suzy piped up. “My friends think you’re funny.”

            “Glad to be of some amusement.” Mary looked at her brother. She gave his hand a squeeze and he looked up at her. “Were you ok in school? Did you have a problem with your powers?”

            He shook his head. “I got a bit overheated, but my teachers thought it was because I was playing out in the sun.” He paused, as if thinking. “Mary, are there others like me? Fire people?”

            “They’re called pyros. I know one from school.”

            “Could…could they teach me? I mean, I don’t know a lot about my powers. Maybe they could help me?”

            Mary smiled down into her brother’s big eyes. “I’ll ask. What can he say besides no?” Randy smiled and turned his attention back to the sidewalk. She had no idea if Warren would be up to talking to her brother, but he seemed interested in him enough to ask after him. He might just be able to shed a bit of light on Randy’s powers. Fire powers weren’t that common in the super community.

            When they got back to the house, Randy and Suzy ran inside while Mary got the mail before following them. She looked in at the kitchen to her left, wondering what she could make for dinner. There was a note left on the cooking island. Checking to see that the twins were turning on the TV to an afterschool program, Mary dropped the mail on the counter and picked up the note.

            _I’ll be late. Lots of work. Dad._

            Crumpling the note, she tossed it into the trashcan and pulled out a few veggies for dinner. How much longer did he think he could keep this up? The twins missed their dad. Did he think he could avoid them forever with the excuse of work? Eventually, he’ll have to face the fact that his kids were supers.

            Nathan Lamb was a reporter who specialized in Hero news for the newspaper. He’d met Trisha Grimes on an assignment and they’d married a year later. He’d had no problem with his super power family, but that had changed when Trisha had been labeled a villain and sent to prison. Nathan grew distant to his daughter, leaving her in the care of nannies and babysitters while he swamped himself in his work. When the twins had come along, he’d started acting like the old Nathan Lamb. He loved his twins and cared for them. Mary knew that he wouldn’t be able to love her like he used to; her powers were too much a part of her that reminded him of his wife’s betrayal. But he loved the twins and that was something. He was getting better. Then Suzy had found out about her powers and he’d slipped back into avoiding his family. Mary angrily chopped the celery. How could he be such a coward? There were obviously problems he was going through, but that was no excuse to ignore his kids. Why couldn’t he get help and deal with them?

            Mary stopped her chopping and purposefully put the knife to the side. She needed to calm down. Getting angry would do nothing but scare the twins. She was the closest thing they had to a parent and she couldn’t lose her cool. Not when they needed her to be a steady rock in their sea of new powers, school, and lives. They’d been uprooted, moved, and returned to their home all in the span of a year. They were dealing with it fairly well, but she knew she had to be there to catch them if they fell. She ran a hand over her face and straightened. A 14 year old wasn’t supposed to feel this old. It was times like these she wished she was old enough to drink. She’d have to settle for a hot shower and homemade veggie stir-fry.

 

***

As Mary stepped off the bus the next day, she scanned the area for a leather jacket. She spotted it heading toward the front doors and hurried to catch up.

            “Warren,” she called, drawing a head or two as she ran passed them.

            The pyro stopped and turned. A scowl formed on his lips but he didn’t turn away. Mary swallowed hard as she stopped next to him. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I have to ask you something.”

            “What?” he growled.

            “Randy asked me if I knew any pyros he could ask about his powers. I thought of you and I was wondering if you could come talk to him?”

            “What makes you think I’d do something for you?”

            Mary frowned. “You don’t have to be mean. I was just asking. You seemed concerned about him so I thought you could help.”

            “I’m not the helping type.”

            “What type are you, then?”

            Warren stepped close so his face loomed over hers. She tipped her head back to stare at him, unfazed by his glower. It would have been more impressive if he put more power behind it. “I’m the type who keeps to themselves. I stopped your brother’s powers before he could do anymore damage. I don’t do coaching on powers, so don’t bother.”

            “You won’t even answer a few simple questions?” Mary lowered her voice as more people started to notice them. “Look, I know you’re concerned about your reputation here, but he’s a scared little boy who has no idea what his powers can do or how to control them. I’m not asking you to become his teacher. I’m asking if you’ll just spend an hour or two answering his questions.” His eyes started to soften so Mary continued. “I just want to help my brother, Warren. Please.”

            The pyro frowned and groaned slightly. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll be by on Monday after my shift. I’m working this weekend. He’s got two hours of my time.”

            Mary’s entire body relaxed as a thankful smile spread across her lips. “Thank you, Warren. I owe you.”

            “Yeah. You do.” He turned and continued up the steps to the school.

            “What was that about?” Layla asked, coming to stand next to her. “He wasn’t giving you trouble, was he?”

            “More like I was bothering him.” Mary smiled at her friend and linked her arm with the green child. “You know, I’m so glad it’s Friday.”

            ***

Saturday morning found the Lamb siblings waiting in a bright white room holding a table and four chairs, all of which were bolted to the floor. Suzy and Randy were fidgeting in their seats, unhappy with the hard chairs and frequently looking at the door. Mary was just as anxious, but she kept her hands occupied with straightening the pictures she’d brought. The pile was bigger than usual, but it held a year’s worth of events. Finally, the door opened and a guard led a cuffed woman to the chair on the other side of the table. After securing the cuffs to the table and floor, he stepped back and looked at Mary.

            “You have 15 minutes.”

            Mary nodded. “Thanks, Joey.”

He smiled softly and the closed the door behind him. Suzy and Randy instantly rounded the table and climbed into the woman’s lap, hugging her tightly. She returned it, pulling them close and kissing their cheeks.

            “You’ve grown up so much. Oh, you look so wonderful.”

            “We brought you some drawings,” Suzy said, reaching out to the table. Mary handed over the crayon drawings the twins had made at school and smiled as the woman cooed over them.

            Trisha Lamb née Grimes, aka Nightmare, looked older than the last time Mary had seen her. Though her face was still youthful, the greying streaks in her bun had grown within the last year. The wrinkles around her aging eyes were more pronounced, especially when she smiled. But her voice and laughter were still the same.

            “And then Randy burst into flames,” Suzy said.

            “It was pretty scary but then some guy came up and put them out. I don’t know how,” Randy added.

            “That must have been a shock. Are you ok?” Trisha asked, pulling her little boy closer.

            “I’m fine. Mary said she’s going to have a friend come over and talk with me about my powers.”

            Trisha looked up at her oldest daughter. “Who’s this friend?”

            “I think it’s that boy who should be your boyfriend,” Suzy said.

            “Boyfriend?” Trisha smiled. “You’ve been back for two weeks and you’ve already got a boyfriend? France was good for you beyond your great new wardrobe.”

            Mary chuckled. “Suzy thinks that this boy from my school should be my boyfriend. He was the one who helped Randy and he’s coming over on Monday to spend a few hours with him.”

            “Who is he?”

            “Warren Peace. He’s Barron Battle’s son.”

            “Really? I haven’t seen him since he was a baby. I wonder what he looks like.”

            “I have a picture, actually.” Mary flipped through the photos, putting the ones from France off to the side. She found the shot of Will with Warren in the background and slid it over to her mom.

            Trisha picked up the photo and smiled. “He’s cute. I agree with Suzy. You should date him.”

            “Mom!”

            “What? He’s cute. I can admit that.”  
            “I can’t date Warren Peace.”

            “Why? Is he mean?”

            “Sometimes. I think he’s doing it to keep his reputation, though. But, yeah. He’s a bit mean. And he doesn’t like Will.”

            “That’s a given after what the Commander did to his dad. You know, Barron was the same way as Warren when he was in high school. It took me beating him in Save the Citizen three times in a row before he would respect me enough to try being friends. He was incredibly stubborn. I honestly don’t know how Zoey Peace could deal with him enough to get married and have a kid.” Trisha smiled at the picture. “Do you mind if I give this to Barron? He’d love a picture of his son and his visiting times are only once a month.”

            “Of course,” Mary said. She patted the pile of photos. “These span the first day of school in France all through Suzy powering up, school, fashion shoots, outing with friends, and up to moving back and the first day of school here.”

            Trisha reached out as far as she could in the cuffs and squeezed Mary’s hand. “I always love your pictures. The guards are sick of my showing them, but I really love it when you bring them.” Her smile faded slightly. “I’m sorry I can’t be there, honey. I miss all of you.”

            Mary squeezed her hand as the twins hugged their mom. “We miss you but we’re back, now. We can visit more often.”

            “I’d like that.” Trisha cleared her throat and turned serious for a moment. “Where’s your father?”

            Mary slumped back in her chair, sliding her hands into her lap. “Dad’s working a lot of long hours. He has to get back into the swing at work.” She met her Mom’s gaze. They both knew what Nathan Lamb was doing and neither approved. But they didn’t need to say it out loud. Not in front of the twins.

            The guard opened the door. “Visitations’ over, guys.”

            The twins squeezed Trisha in one last hug before climbing down from her lap. Mary circled the table and hugged her, too. “I love you, Mom.”

            “I love you, too, sweetie. You all take care of yourselves.” Trisha smiled as Mary led the twins out of the room and they went back through security to the exit.

            When they were outside, Randy kicked a stone as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I hate Mom being locked up. She’s not evil.”

            Mary sighed. “I know. But she did something bad and she has to serve her time.”

            “But a lifetime sentence? Come on! She’s our mom!”

            Mary knelt down. “Randy, regardless of her reasons, she did something bad and she has to pay for that. If she didn’t, it wouldn’t be fair.”

            “It’s not fair that we don’t get to have our mom.” He stomped his foot.

            “No, it’s not.” He was trying so hard not to cry but she understood. “I wish Mom could be able to come home and we could live as a family. That’s not possible, though, as much as we wish it were. But they’re allowing us to visit whenever we want and I think Mom really enjoys it when we come by with such great energy to boost her spirits.” Mary smoothed a piece of hair away from his forehead. “So, what do you say? Think we can try and bring as much positivity to her when we can?” Randy rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and nodded. Mary smiled and kissed his forehead. “That’s my little man. How about we go home, get into our PJs, order some pizza, and dig into some ice cream while we watch a few movies? Sound good.”

            Suzy took her brother’s hand and nodded. They really were great troopers. The three turned down the road and headed to the bus stop for the long journey home.

***

Monday came faster than Mary thought it would. Warren was expected in a few minutes. He’d given her his expected arrival time during French and she was making sure Randy knew exactly what he wanted to ask.

            “Remember, Randy. Warren said he could give you two hours. Try to keep your questions and answers within that time limit. Ok?”

            Randy nodded and they looked up when they heard a knock. Mary opened the front door and smiled as Warren dominated the doorway. “Hi.” She stepped back, allowing him to enter. She closed the door and turned. “Randy, this is Warren Peace. He’s the pyro I was telling you about. Why don’t you two go into the living room and chat?” She turned to Warren. “Would you like something to eat or drink? We have almost everything.”

            He shook his head, his hair falling into his face. “I’m good, thanks.”

            Randy took Warren’s sleeve and pulled him into the other room. “This way, Warren.”

            Mary watched her brother start his rambling for a moment before turning and heading into the kitchen. Suzy was finishing something and put her pencil down. “I’m done with my homework. Can I go play in the backyard?”

            “Did you double check your work?”

            “Yes.”

            “Go ahead, then. Just put your homework back in your bag before you go outside.”

            Suzy grabbed her things, slid off her tall chair, and left Mary to clean up the counter from the little one’s snack of graham crackers and milk. She then turned her attention to tomorrow’s lunch. She made sure that the crust was cut off of Suzy’s sandwich and that Randy had extra cookies so he could trade with his friends. Mary added an extra apple and granola bar to her own lunch. She was usually hungry after power training and the extra boost helped her afterward. With a final touch of water bottles and juice boxes in each lunch, she put them in the fridge and thought about dinner. There was a ton of things in the fridge, but they just had to be made up. But they hadn’t had a casserole in a while. Ah! Chicken mushroom casserole. Perfect. It took little time to whip up and she put it in the oven to bake.

            She set the table and then went to check on Warren and Randy. They were sitting on the couch and she was surprised to see Warren patiently listening to Randy’s concerns about setting things on fire. He was focused and seemed engaged with the conversation. Mary smiled at how relaxed and natural he was. Her camera sat on the side table next to the doorway. She lifted it to her eye and silently shot a few side pics of the boys. Mom would like to see Randy getting along with others and she was sure Barron Battle would enjoy a copy, too. Mary backed away from the scene, staring at the pictures she’d taken. The best pictures were taken when no one noticed. A moment captured in its pure nature; those were the best kind. Mr. Battle would really enjoy these.

            The buzzer on the oven went off. Mary set her camera down and pulled the casserole out of the oven, setting in on a heat pad on the counter to cool. She just needed to get Suzy and Randy to wash up and they could eat. Walking through the house, Mary opened the back door and stepped out onto the patio. “Suzy, it’s time to come in.”

            “I don’t wanna.”

            “It’s time for dinner. You can swing later.”

            “Nope.” Suzy continued to swing.

            Mary stepped down to the grass and approached the swing set. “I’ll just carry you in.”

            “Not if you can’t catch me.” Suzy jumped off the set and started to run away from her big sister.

            Mary chuckled and gave chase. Suzy wove between the swings and around the teen, laughing as Mary started to add commentary.

            “What’s this? Ladies and gentlemen, Speed Devil Suzy has doubled back. I haven’t seen footwork like this since the summer of ’99. Such style, such power- Oh, no! It looks like Speed Devil has been caught!” She lifted Suzy into the air, spinning in a small circle. “Could this be the end? Speed Devil’s long run has come to a stop-” She watched Randy jump down from the patio and race towards them. “What’s this? It’s the Randy Terror! Folks, I haven’t seen this tag team in ages. Oh, this is a sight to see. He’s going for the low tackle.” Randy wrapped his arms around her waist and Mary gently fell back, making sure that Suzy could roll over on the grass. Both of the twins crawled on top of Mary, lying as flat as they could on her stomach. “And now Speed Devil Suzy and the Randy Terror are coming back! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of the Evil Sister! The Terrible Twins have once again won the day! The crowd goes wild.” Mary grinned as the twins jumped to their feet and ran victory laps around her. She sat up and grabbed the nearest twin, lifting him onto her shoulder. “Alright, you two. Wash up for dinnertime. No complaining.”

            “Warren, are you staying for dinner?” Randy asked.

            Mary looked up and spotted Warren standing on the patio. She blushed slightly. She did the announcer voice for her siblings because it made them laugh. She hadn’t expected him to standing there watching. The corners of his lips were curled up in amusement but he schooled his features into a neutral expression. “I better get going, bud.”

            “But you could stay,” Suzy said, grabbing his hand and flashing her big eyes up at him. “Mary always makes extra and you’re already here. Please?”

            Mary had to give props to her little sister. When she pulled out the puppy dog eyes, she went all out. No one could resist them. Not even Warren Peace.

            “I…guess I could stay.”

            “Yay!” Suzy pulled him back into the house. He gave Mary a confused look, but she only shrugged. It took years of building up a tolerance to withstand that look. Even Mary wasn’t completely immune.

            While the twins washed up, Mary set another place at the table, put out glasses of milk for everyone, and moved the casserole to the center of the table. Suzy and Randy took their seats, leaving Warren to sit at the other end across from Mary. “I hope you like casseroles, Warren. It’s chicken mushroom,” she said as she set her napkin her lap. Warren nodded and waited for Mary to serve her siblings before holding her hand out for his plate. She put a serving on it and handed it back. Once she served herself, he took a bite.

            He swallowed and nodded. “It’s good.”

            “Mary’s good at cooking,” Randy said as Suzy pushed the mushrooms to the edge of her plate. “She makes all of our lunches and she’s really good at making pancakes.”

            “I can’t do sweets, though.” Mary scooped the mushrooms off her sister’s plate and put them on her own. “That’s more of Suzy’s skill.”

            “Yeah. I could make you some cookies if you want, Warren.” The little girl grinned at the pyro and Mary suspected he couldn’t help the returned smile. “Hey, Warren. Have you ever taken cookie dough, rolled some into a ball, and used your fire to cook it?”

            He blinked at the question, shooting Mary a curious glance. She shrugged. It wasn’t one of Suzy’s weirder questions. “Um…no.”

            “Have you ever cooked pizza with your fire?”

            “No.”

            “Can you light a candle from the other side of a room?”

            “Yes.”

            “Really? Could you teach me?” Randy asked, joining in.

            “There will be no fire wielding in the house,” Mary quickly interjected. “You can do it in the backyard but not in the house.”

            “I’m sure Warren has control of his powers.”

            “I don’t doubt that, but you’ll want to try and copy him and you don’t have that kind of control yet.”

            “So if I master my powers, I can use fire in the house?”

            Mary narrowed her eyes slightly. “Are you trying to find technicalities with me, young man?”

            Randy shook his head with a smirk. “Just learning the limits of the rules.”

            “The rules are no fire powers in the house.”

            “What if Warren uses them?”

            “No.”

            “So you don’t believe he has control-”

            “No fire powers from anyone in the house. Accidents happen and I don’t want a charred mess to clean up.”

            “What if I cleaned it up?”

            Mary laughed. “I’ve seen your room. You like cleaning as much as I like jalapeños.” Randy frowned and sank into his seat, spearing a piece of chicken with his fork.

            “Don’t worry, Warren,” Suzy said. “They’re always like this.”

            Mary turned from her brother and noticed Warren watching the two of them with a mix of amusement, confusion, and curiosity. She quickly shoved a piece of casserole into her mouth and moved some of the food on her plate while Suzy grabbed Warren’s attention with more questions. Mary hadn’t expected Warren to join them for dinner and now that he was here, she was become aware of how strange the Lambs’ usual dinnertime behavior was. With just the siblings around, dinner was a time to be funny and lovingly bicker with one another. It must look strange to an outsider. She looked up from under her lashes. Warren seemed to be handling everything all right. The constant questions might have been annoying, but he looked to be taking it all in stride, answering between bites of food.

            “You know, I’m going to make you something,” Suzy said. “Then you can see if Mary’s better at cooking than me.”

            “That’s not fair,” Randy said. “You do sweets. Mary does actual food. How’s he supposed to judge fairly?”

            “Sweets are actual food. You’re just jealous because you can’t cook anything.”

            “I can make PB and J. It’s the best. Right, Mary?” Randy turned to look at her.

            She swallowed her mouthful of milk and smiled. “Some of the best I’ve ever had.”

            “See?” Randy smirked at his twin.

            “Mary says that about all of your food. She doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

            “Oh, yeah? Well-”

            “Ok, you two,” Mary said before they could go any farther. “Take a breath. Hold it. Let it out slowly. Good. Now, I like both of your cooking. But don’t insult each other’s skills. Each of you has a specialty, just like any other person, and I love eating what you make. Now, if you’re done eating, please take your dishes to the sink.”

            The two looked at one another and then did what she asked. Once they left the room, Mary turned to Warren. “Sorry about them. They get their passion from their mother.”

            Warren shook his head. “No problem. I can tell they’re related.” He set his fork down and leaned on the table. “I think I answered all of Randy’s questions. He seems to understand his powers a bit more.”

            Mary exhaled, nodding. “I’m so glad to hear that. He’s been worrying about that a lot lately.” She met his gaze. “Thank you, Warren. This means a lot to me. I really owe you one.”

            He shrugged. “I got dinner out of this. I say we’re even.” Warren looked at his watch and stood. “I better head home.” He headed toward the door but stopped and turned. “Thanks for dinner.”

            Mary nodded. “Thanks for helping Randy.”

            Warren gently closed the door after him.

            “Mary, Randy set the curtains on fire,” Suzy called from the kitchen. Sighing, the teen stood up and headed in to take care of the problem.


	4. Chapter 4

Even with her friends around to make her smile from time to time, Mary was finding school to be a bit stressful. She knew Lash and Speed wouldn’t give up so easily on her, but they hadn’t done anything beyond watching and saying a few comments here or there. People still avoided her like the plague and whispered about her in the hallways, though it had toned down since the beginning of the school year. But just walking down the hallway had subjected her to taunts, a few harsh names, and a threat or two. The only people that treated her normally were Will, Layla, Ethan, Magenta, and Zach. Even Warren was at least civil to her. They didn't care who her mother was. The only good things about her days were lunch with friends, French with Warren, and time with her siblings after school.

            Mary walked into the lunchroom and instantly spotted Will walking out of the lunch line. He had a lot of food on his plate and she smiled when she saw that he'd grabbed her a plate of spaghetti and buttered garlic bread. Italian was her second favorite food, next to Chinese. He saw her and nodded his head at a table where the rest of the gang was sitting.

            She made her way down the aisle, waving a hand to the table, when she felt something grab her ankle. She saw something grab Will's ankle, as well, before she tripped, crashing into him and sending the food on his tray soaring. She pushed herself into a sitting position. Will was already on his feet, apologizing to a really pissed off Warren.

            “You think you can do whatever you want because your name's Stronghold?”

            “I'm sorry my dad put your dad in prison but-”

            “Nobody talks about my dad,” Warren said. He brought his hands down sharply, causing his powers to flare up.

            Mary's eyes widened as everyone moved out of harm's way. An angry pyro was a dangerous pyro. Will backed away, but Warren pulled his arms back and threw a fireball. Will managed to grab a lunch tray, but the fireball destroyed it.

            Mary stood up and shoved Warren to the side before he could launch the fireball in his hand. They toppled over, landing on a lunch table. “Warren, you need to calm down,” Mary said, but Warren shoved her off him, getting to his feet again. He threw more fireballs as Will ran to the fire alarm. Something tripped Will, but he managed to crawl under a few lunch tables. Warren jumped on top of the tables and walked along them, tossing fireballs close to the edges. Mary tried to follow, but found she had to push people out of the way to get close enough.

            “Where's your sidekick now, sidekick?” Warren yelled on top of the lunch table.

            “Right here,” Ethan yelled, pushing to the front of the crowd with Zach, Layla, and Magenta.

            Warren turned to them and fired up. Ethan melted.

            Frowning, Mary yanked her leather jacket off and tossed it to the side. This fight was getting old very fast. She extended her hands and put a force field around Warren to keep his powers contained. He looked at the shimmering bubble around him and turned to glare at her. There was so much anger in that one gaze. There was no way he’d calm down any time soon. In the mean time, someone could get seriously hurt.

            “Leave them alone,” Will said, pushing on the table above him. Suddenly, Warren and the table were being lifted into the air. It surprised Warren and Mary enough that they both lost focus on their powers.

            “He's strong,” Layla said, sounding relieved.

            “I'm strong,” Will said, sounding shocked. He looked at the table then tossed it.

            Warren went soaring and hit a high beam before crashing down to destroy another table. Mary was stunned for a moment as the lunchroom cheered. How could they think Warren slamming into a table was a good thing? She hurried over and helped him into a sitting position. He was shaking his head and groaned.

            “Is anything seriously injured?” she asked as she knelt beside him and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Warren blinked a few times before his dark eyes settled on hers. They started to focus again and he growled. He brushed her hand away and climbed to his feet, gaze latching onto Will.

            “Stronghold!”

            Will turned to see him on his feet and hesitantly put up his fists. Warren charged, his anger making him slightly blinded, and Will got a lucky shot in, sending Warren crashing into a wall. Mary managed to throw a force field up in time to catch him before he could go through a second wall, but chastised herself for not reacting sooner. He got to his feet and glared at Will, his powers coming back stronger than before. Her pulse jumped and she leaned away from the heat. Randy had powered up a few times since his first time, but when he'd been excited or upset. Warren was downright pissed. Her brother had nothing on a furious Warren.

            The students pressed against the walls, leaving Will alone on the floor. Warren charged like a bull seeing red. The flames made Mary's skin grow hot, even from where she stood beside the ruined lunch tables. She raised a barrier between the two boys, but Warren jumped over it before it could form itself above his waist. Mary watched as he drew his arm back and he managed to throw one fireball before a white spray hit him. He fell back on the ground, sliding to stop at the feet of Principle Powers.

            Mary scrambled to her feet, grabbed her jacket, and pulled it on, taking a little comfort in the black leather. They were in so much trouble, if Powers’ expression was anything to go on. Mary looked at Will and saw a fire extinguisher in his hands, the top ripped off. So that was what the spray had been.

            “You three, follow me,” Principal Powers said.

            They paused a moment before grabbing their things and following her out of the cafeteria. Mary kept her head down and gripped her satchel tightly. No one talked as they made their way down a few hallways and to a door that slid back. Powers stood by the open doorway and the students walked into a bright white room with desks spaced in a circle.

            “I didn't do anything,” Will said. “He started it.”

            “Your dad started it. And I'm gonna finish it,” Warren said, snapping his arm down. Mary stiffened, ready for the flames, but none came. Warren tried again, but nothing happened.

            “Don't bother,” Principal Powers said. “The detention room neutralizes all super powers. Sit.”

            They took a seat at the desks as Powers stood in the center of the room. “Here at Sky High, we do everything we can to teach you to use your super powers. But what you do with them is up to you. Living up to your parents’ reputation or trying to live it down, is a sad waste of talent. Your talent. Try to keep that in mind the next time you try to do something stupid.” She gave a slight nod before walking out.

            “Look, whatever happened with our dads has nothing to do with us,” Will said. “What do you say?” He extended his hand to Warren, who looked at it with disgust before looking up at the owner.

            “I say if you ever cross me again, I'll roast you alive,” Warren said and looked away.

            Will paused before retracting his hand. He turned to Mary on his left. “Sorry for getting you into this mess.”

            She blinked and met his apologetic gaze. Sighing, she gave him a small smile. “It's fine.” She just hoped that someone would pick Suzy and Randy up at the bus stop if she had to stay after school. She didn’t want them alone in the house for too long. No doubt they would ruin their dinner with snacks.

            Will nodded. “I'm sorry anyway.”

            “Stop apologizing. Look, if you really want to make it up to me, you can buy me a new top.”

            “Looks fine to me,” Will said, looking at her shirt. Mary turned in her seat to face him and slipped the left side of her jacket off her body. Will's eyes widened as he looked at a large burnt hole on her side exposing blackened flesh. “Oh my god! Mary, why didn't you say anything?” he said, moving out of his seat.

            “I can't feel pain, Will. Remember?” Will reached for the burn, but she pulled away, slipping her jacket all the way off and hanging it on the back of the desk's chair.

            “Mary, you really need to see Nurse Spex. That needs to be taken care of.”

            She pulled out a first aid kit out of her bag and turned to sit on the desk's surface. “Are you going to gawk or are you going to help me treat this. I may not be able to feel it, but it can still get infected.”

            “I'm not good at-”

            “It doesn't have to be perfect.” She lifted her shirt up enough to show the wound. “Just wipe it with a disinfectant pad and put a bandage over it. I'll have my sister heal me when I get home. She needs the practice.”

            Will looked up from the contents of the box. “Suzy has her powers? She's only six.”

            “Yes, she is,” she said, lifting her shirt up slightly. “She got them shortly after we moved to France. Would you mind patching this up?”

            Will nodded and started to clean the wound. “Are you sure you can't feel this?” he asked, spreading some ointment. “This looks pretty bad.”

            “I've had worse,” she said. “Randy's just coming into his own powers and is turning into quite the flame thrower. Set the curtains on fire yesterday.”

            “Looks like everyone's going to be a Hero in your family.” Will smoothed the large bandage into place. “You're good.”

            She looked down at her side and smoothed her shirt down. The bandage looked strange showing through the hole in the fabric. “Not bad, Stronghold,” she said, smiling at Will.

            “Are you sure you're-”

            “I'm fine, Will.” He gave her a pointed look. “Look, you have bigger things to worry about. Your mom won't be too happy to hear you got into a fight.”

            “I think they'll be happy I got my superpowers.”

            “You destroyed half the cafeteria.”

            “It wasn't my fault. Warren-”

            “Had a part, yes, but some of it's your fault, as well,” Mary said firmly. “It takes two to tango.”

            Will stared at her in wonder. “How can you take his side?” he asked, waving his hand toward Warren, who had been watching them from the start. “He burned you!”

            “I know,” she said calmly. “But don't you think it was a bit much to punch him through a wall?”

            Will stared at her, his mouth open in shock at her defending his archenemy. It seemed that she'd made him speechless. She reached out and closed his mouth. “You look like a fish. Now sit down and do something productive. You have homework due tomorrow, right?”

            He blinked before nodding. He sat down at the desk he was leaning on, pulling out his books. Mary silently sighed and looked at his textbooks. Will hadn't been too good on homework in middle school. After a while, though, she decided to get a few of her own assignments out of the way. It was a good way to kill time until Powers came back to dismiss them to the buses. She also didn’t want to talk to Warren until she was sure he’d worked through his residual anger.

            She didn't know how much time passed, but soon the door to the detention room opened. Mary looked up. No one was at the door and it didn't close. She slowly stood up and took a step forward. She approached slowly, her body tense and ready.

            “Mary!” was the only warning she got before Randy and Suzy barreled into her. She stumbled, but managed to right herself. Suzy jumped up, forcing Mary to catch her or let her fall. “We came to get you,” Suzy said, looking proud of herself.

            “Mary got in trouble,” Randy said in a sing-song voice, smiling as he gripped her shirt hem.

            Suzy looked over Mary's shoulder and waved enthusiastically. “Hi, Will.”

            “Hey, Suzy,” he said, waving to her. “I heard you got your powers. Congrats.”

            “Yup,” she said proudly. “I can heal. I'm gonna be a Hero like Mary.”

            Mary shook her head. “How did you get here?”

            “Mrs. Josie got us from school and brought us. She said that she had to get Will, so she thought to get us, too.”

            “That’s nice of her,” Mary said. “Well, come on, guys. Let's go home. What do you want for dinner?”

            “Pizza!” Randy said.

            “Mac 'n Cheese!” Suzy said.

            Mary laughed. “Glad you guys can agree on something.”

            “Hi, Warren,” Randy said. Mary turned to see her little brother leaning on Warren's desk, a look of excitement plastered all over his face. “Thanks for yesterday. It really helped. I set the curtains over the sink on fire, though, but Mary took care of it. She wasn’t happy at my practicing in the house.” He paused for a moment before starting again. “Hey, your dad's in prison, right? My mom's there, too. Maybe they could be friends. Would you be my friend? It’d be so cool to have an older friend.”

            “Randy,” Mary said, walking over and taking her brother's hand. She looked at Warren. “Sorry. Come on, Randy.”

            She turned them around and headed to the door. Suzy squirmed out of her sister's arm and ran over to Warren, who hadn't moved from his seat. “Warren, do you want to be her boyfriend?”

            “Suzy,” Mary hissed, blushing a bit. Will was watching the interaction with a combination of amusement and confusion. “Don't bother Warren.”

            “I'm not bothering him. I'm asking a question.” Suzy looked back at the boy, her face serious. “So?”

            Warren stared at the little girl for a while, his face blank of any emotion. Mary turned to Will. “Could you take Randy and Suzy? I'll meet you out front after grabbing a few things from my locker.”

            Will gave her a raised look, but she narrowed her eyes. He collected Suzy and Randy and left the detention room, shooting one last look over his shoulder at her. Mary sighed and turned to Warren. “I am so sorry about them.”

            “Does she always try to set you up with guys?”

            “You're actually the first,” Mary said, collecting her things and putting them in her bag.

            “I feel honored,” Warren said.

            Mary laughed, closing her satchel. “Considering that she doesn't talk to a lot of people my age, yeah.” She slid the strap of her bag over her head and turned. Warren stood directly behind her, the close proximity startling her. She bumped against the desk and sank onto the surface. He stared down at her. The intensity and depth of his gaze kept her rooted on top of the desk.

            “Why did you step in?” he asked. “The fight was between Stronghold and me. You didn't have to, but you did.”

            Mary was quiet for a moment, getting use to him being so close. “I...didn't want anyone to get hurt. No one was stepping in to stop it, so...” She shrugged.

            He stared for a bit longer. “You would make a great hero.”

            Mary's mouth fell open in surprise. She knew that who her mother was didn't depict what her future would be, but, besides her siblings and friends, Warren was the first to tell her that she actually could be a hero. She didn't have a huge dream to be the next big superhero or anything, but it was nice to know someone believed enough in her to sincerely tell her she could be one. “Thanks.”

            “How’s your side?”

            She raised her shirt slightly. “As good as new. Suzy does good work. No scars or anything.” Mary watched Warren look over her side and she dropped the fabric as the attention started to make her blush. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “What's on your mind, Warren?”

            “You know,” he said. “There aren't a lot of people I allow to call me Warren.”

            “Why is that?” He was silent for a moment. “Is it because if they say Peace enough times, they'll see something besides Barron Battle's son?”

            Warren snapped his head up, his eyes flashing. Mary kept his gaze. “It's a shame,” he said, stepping back, “that you're such good friends with Stronghold. But I'll try not to hate you. Even if you bug me with favors.”

            Mary chuckled as she slid off the desk. “Thanks for the effort.” Warren smirked for a moment and they left the detention room. The hallways were deserted, everyone having already gone home. “How are you getting home?” Mary asked. “All the busses have left.”

            “Not all,” Warren said. “They always keep one at the school for late detentions.”

            “Is your mom going to get angry that you had detention?”

            Warren shrugged. “I guess. I've had a few before, so it's not something new to her.” They were quiet, their shoes making the only sound for a while. “What about your dad?”

            Mary smiled for a second at the fact Warren was trying to make small talk, but it faded when she thought about her answer. “I doubt he'll really care. He's been working a lot of late hours. We haven't seen him in a week, though I'm sure he comes home to crash when we're at school.”

            “Sounds rough,” Warren said, stopping at Mary's locker so she could grab her books.

            She shrugged. “Sometimes. But I have my hands full with Suzy and Randy. I'm sure the moment we go visit Mom again, they're going to be jumping everywhere and tattling on me for hours.” Warren raised a questioning eyebrow. “I’m the good kid. I never get in trouble,” Mary explained as she put her books in her bag and closed her locker. They turned and headed for Warren's locker next.

            “Will your mom get upset about the detention?”

            “Yeah.” She sighed. “She wants me to do well in school and succeed. Be a good role model for the twins. You know, be something that she thinks she isn't.” A soft smile played across her lips as she remembered her mother before she'd gone to jail. “What she doesn't get is that she's always our mom, villain or no.” The mental image of Trisha Lamb’s bright smile faded and Mary realized that she'd stopped walking. Warren was staring at her as he leaned against his locker door, and she blushed. “Sorry. Didn't mean to get all reminiscent.”

            “No,” Warren said, grabbing one of his textbooks. “I get it. It's like that with my dad sometimes. When he finds out that I had detention, he'll be angry and laugh. Angry that I got in trouble, but laugh that I got one in at Stronghold.”

            Mary shook her head, though she couldn’t help but smile. This was the most Warren had opened up to her, probably to anyone, and it was because of his fight with Will. Mary turned her head, looking into his locker. It had a small poster of a band and a few other punk-ish things, but there was a picture posted in the middle that really caught her eye. It was of a man that looked like an older Warren, his arms around a small child and a woman with bright red hair. They were smiling at the child, who was reaching for the man's large glasses. It was a cute family picture. Warren closed his locker door, bringing Mary's attention back to him.

            “I remember him, you know,” she said. “Your dad. Not well, but I remember he came to my house once or twice. He was nice to me.” Warren tilted his head, staring at her. She shifted a bit after his staring continued. “What?”

            “I've never heard someone outside my mom and me use those words in the same sentence about him. It's odd.”

            She laughed. “You haven't figured out that I'm odd?” she asked as they continued down the halls.

            “I figured that out when you defended me back in the detention room.”

            “You did start the fight. But,” she added, seeing Warren's eyes flash, “it wasn't fair for Will to put the entire blame on you. I mean, he's stupid sometimes. My job is sort of trying to make him less stupid.”

            Warren paused then broke out into a full genuine smile and laughter that made Mary stare. Wow. Why didn't he smile more? “If you're trying to make him less stupid, you definitely have your work cut out for you. He still hasn't noticed Hippie's feelings for him.”

            Mary blinked. “You know about Layla liking Will? Are you spying on our table or something?”

            “Hardly. You guys always sit near my table during lunch and you're not exactly quiet.” He shook his head, the smile still on his face.

            Mary reached into her bag and pulled out her camera that she always carried with her. “Warren, can I take your picture?” He paused, staring at her, then her camera. “I promise not to do something stupid like post it all over the school with a moronic caption.”

            He was silent, then shrugged. “Whatever, Lamb.”

            Mary smiled and raised the device to her eye. Looking through the lens, she noticed he wasn't smiling. She missed it, but his brooding face was just as good. She snapped a few pictures then lowered it to look at how they'd turned out.

            “Not bad,” Warren said, looking over her shoulder as they walked to the front doors.

            Mary shrugged. “I'd have liked you to smile, though.”

            “Maybe another time, Pics,” he said, opening the door for her.

            She stepped through, looking at him curiously. “Pics?”

            “Because you're always taking pictures,” Warren said, giving her a look that said 'duh'.

            She was about to say something, but Suzy ran over to them. She usually grabbed her sister's hand, but took Warren's instead. He was just as surprised as Mary, but didn't shake the little one off. “Are you leaving, Warren?” Suzy asked.

            “Uh, yeah,” he said, looking a bit unsure of what to do.

            “Can you come over again sometime? You could come for dinner. I could make you some sweets, too.”

            Mary covered her smile with her hand. It took a lot of effort not to laugh at her sister's meddling. When she got something into that cute head of hers, there was almost nothing that could stop her. Warren looked up at Mary for help and she had to bite her knuckle to keep the laughter at bay. The mighty Warren Peace, brooding pyro of the school, didn't know how to handle a pleading six year old.

            “Suzy,” Mary said. “Warren has to work a lot and has to do his own homework. There's not a lot of time that he can come over.”

            “Awww,” Suzy said, pouting. “But he's such a good boyfriend for you.”

            “Suzy,” Mrs. Stronghold called from a car parked near by. Will and Randy were already in the car. They were just waiting on the girls.

            The little one looked up at Warren. “Tomorrow night,” she said. “Dinner at our place. You'll be there.” It wasn't a question, but a statement then she ran off to the car, waving to Warren.

            Mary shook her head. “I'm really going to have to talk to her. I am so sorry, Warren. She seems to have her attention on you.”

            He shook his head, as if clearing something from his thoughts. “See you, Pics,” he said, raising a hand as he turned away. There wasn't any scorn or negative sound in his voice. Good. He hadn't meant it to sound like a dismissal.

            “See you, Warren,” she said before turning and walking over to the car.

            Josie Stronghold, also known as Jetstream, sat in the car, dressed in a white work suit. Her face was a little stern and Mary was fairly certain Will was going to get a lecture later on tonight. Any other time, though, Mrs. Stronghold was a compassionate woman that treated the Lamb children like her own.

            “Hello, Mrs. Stronghold,” Mary said, closing the door as she slid into the front seat and buckling up. “It's been a while.”

            “It has,” the woman said, giving her a slight smile. “I'm glad to see you, but what were you thinking, getting into a fight?”

            “She was trying to stop the fight, Mom,” Will said from the back.

            “Then why were you put in detention?” she asked.

            “Principal Powers misunderstood the situation,” Mary said as the car drove off the side of the school. There was a slight falling before boosters unfolded from the back and they started to fly.

            Josie sighed. “Either way, your father's not going to be happy about you getting detention.”

            Mary ran her thumbs over the camera in her lap. She didn't bother to mention that Dad probably wouldn't care, since he wasn't really home enough to know what was going on. Instead, she said, “Dad pulled the short straw and has to pull another shift at the paper. He'll be home late, but I'll probably hear about it later.”

            “Late shift,” Josie said. It sounded like she was thinking. “Mary, you, Suzy, and Randy are going to join us for dinner. I won't take no for an answer.”

            “Yay,” Suzy cheered from the back.

            Mary smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Stronghold.”

            “It’ll give us a chance to catch up.” Josie grinned as they touched down onto real road. “I want to hear all about France, who you met, where you were, and everything in between.” She gave a sly look from the corner of her eye. “And I’d love to hear about your relationship with Warren Peace.”

            Mary blushed at her tone. “There’s no relationship,” she said, very much aware that everyone in the back seat were now listening. “He helped me out by talking to Randy about his powers. That’s all.”

            “Ah. Ok.”

            “There really is nothing else,” Mary insisted.

            “Of course, dear,” Josie said, pulling into the driveway. She turned in her seat and looked at Will. “Will, your father will want to talk to you. Suzy, Randy, go on in and start your homework. We’ll be in momentarily.” Once they left, Josie turned to Mary. “Mary, I know that the bad boy image can be attractive, especially when you’re in high school, but there are other boys who-”

            “Warren Peace is hot tempered, broody, and far too invested in maintaining that bad boy image. But he was there when Randy first powered up, he helped put the flames out, he told me what to do to get Randy through his transition, and then he came by to ease Randy’s concerns. I’ve only known him for less than a week, but he helped me. I’m grateful for what he’s done. But that’s it.”

            Josie stared and Mary didn’t look away. Mrs. Stronghold needed to know that she meant what she said. Yes, Warren was attractive and his smile was practically transformative, but good looks weren’t everything. She’d spent a full year around hot models and designers without falling for any of them, man or woman. Warren had helped her, she was grateful, and she wouldn’t be against the idea of them becoming friends. But Mary wasn’t interested in a relationship. She had too many responsibilities to worry about. Josie must have seen this in her eyes.

            “You know you can always come to me if you need anything.”

            Mary nodded. “I know. But we’re fine. Really. You don’t have to worry about us.”

            “I’ll worry anyway. You’re like my own kids.” She patted Mary’s knee and opened the car door. “Come on. I know for a fact that Steven isn’t giving Will the lecture I want him to.”

            Mary laughed as she climbed out of the car.

            Dinner with the Strongholds was nice. Steve was thrilled to hear about everyone’s new powers and couldn’t get over the fact that Will finally had his. Afterwards, the others retreated to the living room, leaving Josie and Mary to clean up. The twins were thrilled to hear Steve’s stories and Mary was glad to chat with Josie. She told her all about being overseas and all the friends she’d made. Mary was in the middle of recounting her school’s end of semester fashion show when Will came into the kitchen.

            “The twins are finally asleep,” he said. “I don’t know how you can deal with so much energy. I’m so glad I’m an only child.”

            “Years of practice, Will. Years of practice.” Mary turned to Josie. “Would you mind if we just stayed here for the night? I’d rather not risk them getting their second wind if I move them now.”

            “Of course,” Josie said. “Just let your father know.”

            Mary nodded and picked up her cell phone. She dialed her dad’s number and stepped outside. The line rang for a while until his voicemail answered.

            “Hey, Dad. It’s Mary. Listen, we had dinner at the Strongholds’ and the twins crashed. We’re gonna stay here and catch the bus in the morning. Just letting you know. Bye.” She hung up and slipped the device into her pocket. He may or may not get the message, but he wouldn’t care either way. This was all for show.

            Mary tipped her head back and let her eyes fall closed. The cool breeze felt good against her skin. It was already turning colder; she’d have to pull out the winter clothing soon and start having soup on hand to warm up with. She’d have to pull out the afghans and other comfy blankets, too. Heating was expensive and it was just easier to curl up in a blanket on the couch than to turn up the heat. Randy wouldn’t have a problem; he was his own heater. Mary chuckled at the thought. He’d probably tease his sisters about being too cold when he could be fine walking around in just shorts and a t-shirt. Pyros had a different temperature than others. Was Warren like that? Must be real handy to have around during the cold season. You wouldn’t have to worry about the heating bill; you could just curl up under a blanket and let him heat you right up. In more ways than one, too. Mary snapped her eyes open and shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking about him like that.

_Focus, Mary. Relationships aren’t wise. You can’t give them the attention they deserve. Not when you have to take care of the twins. This is your life, as much as you wish it wasn’t._

She loved her siblings- she really did- but she sometimes wished she could be like any other teenager. She couldn’t rebel against her parents and be moody. She had to be the responsible one and make sure Suzy and Randy grew up to be normal people. Her only way of rebelling was the blue streaks in her hair, her rocker style, and the tattoos she’d gotten during one of her more wild evenings back in France. That was her rebellion and that was all it could ever reach. Every other part of her had to be a good example. And it was suffocating. What she wouldn’t give for just one night where she could be as wild and crazy as she wanted without having to worry about how she looked.

“Mary, is everything all right?” Josie asked, opening the back door. “You’ve been out here a while.”

The teen nodded. “Just thinking about the changing season.”

“It is a bit nippy out here.” Josie smiled slightly. “Want some tea or hot chocolate? Seems like the night for it.”

“Yeah. That sounds pretty good.” Mary followed Josie inside and laughed when she saw Suzy standing over a mixing bowl.

The little girl looked up and grinned. “I’m gonna make cookies.”

“And you’re never going to sleep,” Mary mumbled, but settled down at the kitchen table as Josie put the kettle on.

***

The next day at school, almost every person had to come up to Will and congratulate him on getting his powers. He was a bit shocked at the attention, but didn’t mind it after a while. He even seemed to be enjoying himself. Through her morning classes, Mary heard that he’d been moved to the Hero class. That wasn’t too surprising, really, but it wasn’t like she’d see him too much. He was still a freshman and she was a sophomore.

At lunch, Mary quickly spotted Warren at his usual table, his back hunched as he read a comic book. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a brown paper bag, setting it down next to his elbow. He looked up to stare at it before turning his gaze toward her.

“Suzy insisted on baking you some cookies last night. Practically shoved them into my bag. I hope you like Red Velvet with white chocolate chip.”

Warren opened the bag and pulled a treat out. He turned it for a moment before taking a bite. He chewed and nodded. “It’s good.” He looked up. “Tell her thanks.”

Mary nodded with a soft smile. She looked up when she noticed her friends calling for her and turned back to Warren. “I’ll see you in French, then.” He nodded and she hurried to join her friends, missing the moment Warren pulled out a folded note from the bag.

“Where’s Will?” Mary asked as she sat down.  
            “Sitting with his new friends,” Layla said.

Mary turned in her seat and saw Will sitting with a few of the popular heroes. He looked slightly uncomfortable sitting there despite enjoying the attention that morning. Mary turned back to Layla and squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sure he’s not half as happy over there than here. We’re his real friends.”

Layla smiled a bit, but it was obvious that she wasn’t convinced. Will really needed to open his eyes. Layla might not always be around for him when he figured it out.

After lunch, Mary exchanged a few books at her locker and turned to go to the gym changing rooms. Lash, however, was blocking her path.

“So are you going to cheer for me today in gym?”

“Why would I?” Mary stepped around him, but he just moved back in her way.

“Because you like me but you just won’t admit it.”

Mary rolled her eyes. “If by like, you mean that I do not want to have anything to do with you, then I absolutely adore you.”

“Oh, baby, you’re making me blush.”

She shook her head and moved around him, pushing the girl’s locker room door open.

“I love it when you play hard to get, Mary.”

What was his angle? He and Speed had been watching her for a while, not coming near her, but then Lash starts flirting with her? What were they up to?

*

It was Save the Citizen in gym. Mary cringed as the citizen dummy was torn apart by the rotating blades. The ‘Heroes’ of the simulation had been thrown into a dumpster, crushing it. She couldn’t see how people could cheer for that. She hoped that Will wouldn’t be too badly injured in this fight. She’d heard about the bet Zach had made with Speed and Lash. As much faith as she had in Will, he didn’t know how to use his powers. There was little hope of him winning this challenge. Poor Ethan was going to be tormented for months.

“Next round,” Boomer said from his elevated chair. “Speed, Lash, wanna be Heroes or Villains?”

“Villain,” Speed said with a laugh.

“Shocker.” Boomer made a note on his clipboard. “Alright. Who do you want to beat next?”

“We’ll take little Stronghold,” Speed said, pointing to Will.

“And we’ll take Peace,” Lash finished.

Mary turned to watch Warren stand from his semi-isolated spot on the bleachers. This match was doomed to fail and both Speed and Lash knew it. Could the boys put aside their differences for this? Warren caught her eyes while he put on the padding. She gave him an encouraging smile that he didn’t return, but he did nod slightly toward her.

Boomer explained the rules but Will seemed to be a bit more preoccupied with Gwen Greyson waving at him. He needed to focus. There was a lot riding on this outcome. The clock started and Lash instantly turned Speed into a fast human pinball that knocked Will and Warren off their feet. Mary gasped as she watched Warren crush a mailbox, but he got up and tossed it over the wall. Lash immobilized Warren by extending his arms, but the pyro lit his arms up, burning the boy and causing him to let go. Mary cheered. Warren smiled but Lash frowned, calling for a foul. Boomer didn’t care. The bully deserved it.

Will was having trouble staying up. Every time he got up, Speed knocked him down. Warren tried to hit him, but the fireball ended up destroying Boomer’s clipboard, which earned a laugh from the viewers. Mary hid a little chuckle. Will climbed to his feet and, using a move from his dad, jumped up enough to put the right amount of force behind his punch as he slammed his knuckles into the wood. The floor rippled, throwing Speed and Lash into the air and crashing against the walls. Will tied Lash to a light post, which Mary thoroughly enjoyed.

She looked to Warren as he started launching fireballs at the walls in an attempt to hit Speed. The other boy was just too fast, though. He started running a small circle around Warren, the air leaving quickly and depleting his flames. Mary paled and her heart dropped into her gut. He was suffocating! Will grabbed Speed and released him at Lash, letting him run into the boy before picking Warren up and throwing him at the citizen just as the buzzer sounded.

“Time!” Boomer called. “She’s alive! Heroes win!”

The rest of the auditorium cheered and poured onto the floor. They surrounded Will and raised him onto their shoulders, cheering at his victory. Mary hurried down the bleachers and tried to push her way to Warren, but he was already heading to the boy’s locker room. She hurried after him, but the door closed and the crowd pulled her away. She found herself near the girl’s locker room and she headed in, quickly changing back into her regular clothes. With the crowd out there, gym was unlikely to continue. That didn’t matter, though. She had to check on Warren. She pushed the locker door open and waiting for him to leave the boy’s locker room.

The moment Warren appeared, Mary straightened. “Are you alright?”

            “I'm fine,” Warren said, waving her off. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration as he turned away and walked down the hall.

            Mary followed. “You were almost suffocated.”

            “Thanks for the reminder, but I was there, you know.” Warren turned to her. “Why don’t you go back to Stronghold and his adoring fans?”

            She gritted her teeth and grabbed his arm, pulling him around to face her. “Stow the anger. I’m focused on you, Warren Peace, and I will slap you if you say that you’re fine one more time. No one is fine after almost being suffocated and tossed about like a rag doll.”

            He stared at her for a long while; enough time for her to calm down and realize what she had said. Mary rarely lost her temper. She tried hard to keep her cool around her siblings and friends, but the threat to Warren had instantly made her regress to a yelling piece of worry.

            “I-I’m sorry,” she said, blushing. “I shouldn’t have yelled. I’m just worried about you and-”

            “I'll be over tonight for dinner after my shift,” Warren said gently, cutting her off. “You can watch me for a while and make sure I'm truly fine.”

            “Dinner? Really?” Mary blinked in surprise. “Tonight? But-”

            “Suzy already told me to come yesterday and she also sent me a note with the cookies telling me to come,” he said. “And you're obviously not convinced that I'm fine.” He shifted the bag on his shoulder. “See you at seven after my shift.” He walked past her, but paused and looked back at her. “You know, it’s been a while since someone worried about me. It’s nice.” He then turned and continued on his way, leaving Mary standing in the hallway. She watched him go, still stunned at the fact that Warren Peace was coming to dinner because her little sister had asked him to with a note and cookies.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“You are one sneaky child. You know that?”

Suzy grinned as she set the table. “I get it from my sister.”

Mary sighed and returned to her cooking. She’d decided on spaghetti and meatballs with homemade garlic bread. She hoped Warren liked Italian. Someone knocked on the front door.

“I’ll get it!” Randy called. A moment later, she heard a cheery “Warren!”

“Hey, Randy,” Warren’s voice said, traveling into the kitchen.

“You smell like Chinese.”

“That’s where I work.”

“Cool. Hey, could you show me some fire stuff after dinner? Please?”

“Randy, why don’t you let Warren come inside before you start asking things,” Mary called as she poured the spaghetti into a colander. She gave Warren a smile as he came around the corner. His hair was pulled back into a small ponytail, baring his face. He looked like a completely different person. “Hey, Warren. What can I get you to drink?”

“Anything’s good.”

“Warren!” Suzy jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. She grinned up at his stunned expression. “You came!”

He cleared his throat awkwardly and patted her head. Mary turned away to hide her grin. She quickly finished the food and brought the plates to the table. Suzy and Randy climbed into their seats as Warren took his own. Mary set a glass of milk in front of him and took her own seat. It was just like the last time he’d been here. Suzy and Randy dominated most of the meal with questions about Warren’s powers, his school, and what it had been like to get the fire tattoos on his wrists. Mary let them go for a bit, but jumped in when the twins took a breath.

“So how was work?”

Warren looked up, searching her eyes for something. Did he not get asked that question a lot? He twirled his fork in the pasta. “It was slow. Not many people come out for Chinese on a Wednesday.”

“Not unless you really love Chinese.”

“Or you’re waiting for someone,” Warren mumbled.

“Oh?”

He looked at his plate for a moment as if contemplating something. He met Mary’s gaze and leaned a little on the table as he set his fork down. “Hippie was apparently waiting for Stronghold to show up but he never did. So she ranted at me for a while. Does she really think she’s not obvious?”

Mary laughed. “She thinks she is. Everyone knows she’s into Will, though. Everyone except him, I mean. He’s a bit slow.”

“Tell me about it. I wonder how he survived this long.”

“Probably because of Layla and I have been there to get him out of trouble.”

Warren smirked. “I’m gonna love seeing him try to get out of this mess.”

Mary laughed. Though she felt bad for Layla and she knew it made her a horrible friend to think so, she was looking forward to the entertainment yet to come. Oh, that did sound horrible.

“They’ll be fine,” Suzy said. Mary hid her jump. She’d forgotten the twins were still there. “They’re meant to be together.”

“That’s stupid romance talk,” Randy said.

“Says the boy who likes fairy tales.”

“They had real life lessons to them.”

“Uh-huh. And what lesson does Cinderella have? Loosing your shoes will find you a husband?”

“Enough,” Mary said, getting their attention. “Randy, there’s nothing wrong with liking fairy tales. Suzy, don’t tease your brother about his reading preferences.” Both twins bowed their heads to sulk a bit. “Now, Suzy, there was something you prepared for desert, right? Why don’t you and Randy go get it?”

The twins left, leaving Mary and Warren at the table. “I’ll give you this,” Warren said, smiling slightly. “Your house is never quiet.”

“What about your house? No siblings?”

“Only child. Mom works long hours sometimes. It’s usually just me.”

Mary sipped her milk. She knew what that was like. “Well,” she said, putting her glass down, “if you ever get tired of silence, this place is rarely quiet.” As if to prove her point, a metal crash came from the kitchen. “Everything ok in there, guys?”

“Yup! We’re fine,” Suzy called.

“Nothing’s broken,” Randy added.

Warren’s brow furrowed as he looked at Mary but she shrugged. “You sure? If I come in there-”

Suzy popped her head around the corner. “It’s fine. Stay there.” She dashed back into the kitchen.

Mary blinked and turned to Warren. “You can see into the kitchen. What are they doing?”

“They’ve got the whipped cream out.”

“Oh, no.” He looked her way. “It’s never good when they pull out the whipped cream.”

“Why?”

Mary winced at the sound of a can spraying something. She took a breath and called out, “Suzy?”

“Everything’s ok!” Randy said. “Just…wait a minute.”

Warren ran his hand over his mouth, probably to hide a smile, as he turned his attention to Mary. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Is anything destroyed?”

“I don’t think so.”

“We would never destroy anything,” Suzy said, walking in with a covered plate.

Randy followed and smiled. “Relax. Everything’s fine.”

“That’s what worries me.”

The twins ignored their big sister and put the plate on the table. Suzy took the top off and Mary smiled at the lava cake with whipped cream splattered around the base and on top.

“Ta-da!” the twins chorused.

“It looks wonderful,” Mary said. “You did a great job.”

Suzy cut a slice and put it on Warren’s plate and then one on Mary’s. The teens shared a quick look before taking a bite. Mary smiled as the chocolate melted in her mouth, her taste buds going crazy at the subtle flavors. Warren’s eyes widened and he stared at the little girl.

“It’s great.”

Suzy jumped up and down, clapping her hands in excitement. Mary had to agree. This was one of Suzy’s best efforts. She noticed the twins were clearing away the rest of the dishes.

“Aren’t you having any?”

They shook their heads. “I made it for you two. Enjoy.” They darted back into the kitchen.

Mary chuckled and shook her head. Always meddling. She looked up and smiled as Warren went back for a second helping. He gave her a challenging glare, but she only shook her head.

“Help yourself. Seconds mean you like it.” He nodded and sat back with the slice of cake. Mary watched him scarf it down. “Sweet tooth?”

He paused and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Worse than my dad’s, so my mom tells me.”

Mary laughed. “I remember he used to steal from my jelly bean stash. He gave me five bucks each time so I wouldn’t tell my mom.”

Warren stared at her as she took another bite. “How well do you remember my dad?”

“It’s only snippets. I was really young and he went away before I could properly remember him.” She tilted her head slightly. “I do remember that Mom retired around the time he left.”

“She came out of retirement, though.” Warren leaned forward. “Why?”

Mary looked down at her plate. “She said she had to fix something. Set something right. I don’t know what it was, but I do remember the cops taking her away.” She purposefully put her fork down and flexed her fingers. She’d never forgive the Dreamer for taking her mother away from her family. Mary took a deep breath and slowly let it out before looking up. “Let’s not talk about parents in prison. I’d hate to lose my temper in front of the twins.”

Warren nodded and looked at his crossed arms on the table. Silence rested between them for a bit. Mary finished her desert and pushed the plate away.

“I don’t…open up a lot,” Warren said hesitantly. He met her gaze across the table. “It’s easier to keep up the reputation of broody pyro and son of a villain. People leave me alone and I know what’s expected. I’m used to pushing people out…I don’t know why I don’t do the same with you.”

Mary shifted in her chair, her lips curling. “Oh, you’ve tried. My mom said your dad was the same way in high school. Maybe you take after him in that respect. But maybe you open up because I’m a villain’s kid, too, and I get where you’re coming from. I don’t like people looking at me and seeing me as only Nightmare’s kid. Will has it a bit easier than us. His parents are the greatest superheroes in the business and people expect him to be like them. But we’re from the other spectrum and people will never stop thinking we’ll go that way, too.” She lifted her shoulder a bit. “It helps to have someone who understands.”

Warren watched her for a bit. Will and Layla were good friends and she could talk to them about some things like this, but they didn’t really get it. Not like Warren could and probably did. Mary smiled slightly to herself. There was a possibility they could be good friends and companions because of this.

“Are you going to homecoming?”

The question was random and it took her a minute to answer. “I hadn’t thought about it. Why?”

Warren shrugged. “I could take you or we could…hang out? Maybe…talk or something?”

She watched him try not to fidget. It was probably hard for him to ask her to do something close to what friends did, but at least he was trying. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go.”

He nodded and ran a hand over his pulled back hair. “Sure.” He darted his eyes away for a moment but brought them back to her. “As friends?”

Mary nodded. “I’d love to be friends.”

“You could be more than that.”

The teens looked over the twins leaning in the doorway. “Have you been listening the whole time?” Mary asked.

“Only the part where he asked you to the dance,” Suzy said. She looked at Warren. “Seriously. Date her.”

“Suzy,” Mary warned. “You have to stop bothering Warren about this. It makes things awkward.”

“Not if he dated you.”

“And now it’s time for bed. I want you two changed, teeth brushed, and ready to be tucked in by the time I get upstairs.” The twins grumbled but left after wishing Warren a good night.

Warren stood and headed toward the door. Mary followed. He turned to her. “Thanks for dinner…and the talk. Maybe we could…”

“Do it again? Any time you need.”

He nodded. “Don’t think I won’t be nice to you in school, though.”

A smiled curved her lips. “Wouldn’t dream of it. You’ve got a reputation to protect.”

For a moment, he copied her smile but it dropped back into a neutral scowl and he nodded once before leaving. Mary closed the door and smiled. A new friend. So today wasn’t half bad.

***

Mary waved to the twins and their friends as the bus pulled away. Layla came to a stop next to her and waited until her friend turned to her.

“Will was supposed to meet me at the Paper Lantern and didn’t show, which lead me to a chat with Warren Peace who apparently works there.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Layla took a breath and straightened her shoulders. “I’m going to ask him to homecoming.”

“Well, here’s your chance.”

The girls turned to watch Will happily jogging up to them. “You will not believe what happened to me last night.” Layla held out a fortune cookie, which Will took and ate. He pulled out the piece of paper and read, “Your loyalties are clear when it comes to friends.” It took him a moment to figure it out. “Oh. Layla, I am so sorry. I totally forgot-”

“It’s ok. But there’s something I want to tell you.”

“Oh, me, too.”

“Then you go first.”

Will grinned. “I’m going to the dance with the greatest girl at school; Gwen Greyson!”

Mary stared. He wasn’t that stupid. He couldn’t be. But as she continued to stare at Will’s smiling face, she realized that he was serious. Oh, this was bad. Thankfully, the bus showed up. Will climbed up the steps, leaving Mary and Layla to follow with a shared stunned look.

Once they were in the air, Will asked Layla what her news was.

“Oh, I’m going to homecoming, too.” Mary, who had taken a seat behind the flower child, leaned closer to hear.

“You are? Who with?” Will asked.

“Who with?”

“Yeah. Who asked you?”

“Oh, who asked me!” Layla chuckled a little. Mary hoped Layla knew what she was doing. Who could she say that would play along with her lie? “Warren Peace.” Mary was so shocked she hardly noticed that they had arrived at school. The bus emptied and she hurried after her friends.

“Warren Peace?” Will followed Layla toward her classes. Mary would have followed, but she spotted the topic of the two’s conversation. She changed directions and stopped beside his locker.

He glanced her way and leaned his shoulder against the metal, raising his eyebrows.

“Are you going with Layla to homecoming?” Mary asked right out.

Warren blinked. “What? No.”

“She just told Will that you asked her to homecoming.”

“Well, I didn’t.” Warren slipped a book into his bag. “Hippie must be hallucinating.”

Mary’s brow furrowed. Why would Layla tell Will she was going with Warren? Unless she liked Warren? No, she was hopelessly in love with Will. Maybe it was to make Will jealous. That would definitely do the trick. But that didn’t sound like Layla. Of course, Will did put her on the spot. The bell rang, breaking Mary out of her thoughts. She had to get to class.

“I’ll see you around, Warren,” she said and started to turn.

Warren gently grabbed her elbow. She turned back and saw a little color in his cheeks, though not enough to catch the attention of the other people in the hallway. “Suzy wouldn’t have slipped anything into your bag, would she? That seems to be the pattern.”

Mary opened her bag and shook her head. “That girl is going to give you diabetes if she keeps this up.” She pulled out a bag of caramel snicker doodles. Warren’s name was written in pink crayon on a piece of white construction paper that was tied to the bag with a piece of string. Mary placed it in Warren’s hand. “If you want her to stop, I’ll let her know.”

“Nah,” Warren said, slipping the sweets into his bag. “I don’t mind. My mom likes them, too.”

“Of course,” Mary said, trying to hide her smile. “And it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re becoming addicted to Suzy’s cooking.”

He shrugged, shoving the cookies into his bag before anyone else could see them. “Like I said. Sweet tooth.” He turned and headed off toward his own classes, giving her a farewell nod before he turned the corner.

Mary hurried off to her class, sliding into her seat as the late bell rang.

Mad Science was just an extension on rays. They’d moved on from freeze rays and onto heat rays. Mary found she was getting used to being ignored. If she focused on taking notes, she was fine. This was the routine she’d managed to keep for the past few days. It didn’t help today, though. Not for Hero History. They were talking about Hero and Villain legacies and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Nightmare is one of the most notorious Villains, rivaling even Barron Battle. What makes her even more interesting to study is that she comes from a long line of Supers. Heroes, Villains, and even Sidekicks have come from every generation. Mary,” the class turned around to face her as the teacher pointed her out, “why don’t you tell us about your Super side of the family?”

Her fingers tightened on her pencil at the sudden attention, but she kept her face neutral. “I’d prefer not to, ma’am.”

“Surly your mother spoke of them. Told family stories and the like? Explained where your powers came from?”

Mary shifted in her seat. Why did the teacher have to force the focus onto her? “I have been advised to make no comment on this subject.” She met the teacher’s gaze with a meaningful one of her own. “My apologies that I cannot contribute to this discussion.”

The teacher frowned, but quickly put on a smile and moved the discussion along. Mary returned her attention to her notes, pretending she didn’t see the curious looks from the other students. Her mother didn’t talk about her side of the family often. She became estranged from her parents when she married. They hadn’t approved of her marrying a Normal. They’d died before Mary was born, never getting the chance to reconcile. All Mary knew was what the teacher had said and that she had inherited her Grandmother’s force field abilities and her Great Grandpa’s ability to feel no pain. She supposed that Suzy and Randy had gotten their powers from other ancestors. She should ask Mom next prison visit.

Things went back to normal until lunch. Mary searched for her friends and was surprised to see Layla and the others sitting with Warren. She hesitated a moment, wondering if it was ok to sit at Warren’s table, but found herself moving across the cafeteria when she’d seen the look in Warren’s eyes asking her to step in. Mary put on a bright smile and stopped by the table. “May I join you?” she asked.

“Oh, Mary, perfect.” Layla pulled her down to sit on her left. “I was just telling Warren what I told Will this morning,” Layla said.

“About how Warren didn’t asked you to the homecoming dance, but you said he did to get back at Will because he’s going with Gwen Greyson and you don’t like that?”

Layla frowned slightly and stabbed her salad with a plastic fork. “Well it sounds bad when you put it that way. But, yes.”

Mary turned to Warren. “What do you think about this?” He opened his mouth to answer, but both of them looked back at Layla as she laughed and slapped her hand on the table.

“Warren, you are craazzyy!”

Mary stared, momentarily wondering if Layla had lost her mind, but figured it out when she saw passing by with the popular kids. He looked at their table but kept walking. When he was far enough away, Layla turned to Warren.

“Please. I promise to make this as painless as possible.”

“So, you’re not doing this because you like me or anything,” Warren said. “You’re doing this to get at Stronghold.”

“Yeah,” Layla said, looking guilty again.

A grin lit up Warren’s face. “And I’m in.” Mary stared, as did everyone else at the table. What she wouldn’t give to get that smile on film. “But I’m not renting a tux,” he added before grabbing his things and standing. He met Mary’s gaze for a quick moment before leaving.

Ethan scooted over into Warren’s seat. “Hey, if Warren’s not here, is this still the tough guy table?”

Mary shook her head and pulled out her sandwich.

Warren was already sitting in his seat when Mary arrived for French class. She slid into the seat next to him, dropping into French as they had come to do when they talked. The teacher couldn’t fault them; they were doing exactly what the class was teaching, after all.

“You’re going along with Layla’s plan?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “You think I shouldn’t.”

“It’s your choice. I have no say.” She turned to him. “You’re doing this to get back at Will, aren’t you?”

“Why else would I agree? It’s not like I care about Hippie.” He leaned back in his chair, lowering his voice as more students wandered in. “I’m sorry that I can’t take you. I had given my word.”

“But getting back at Will is too tempting. I get it,” she added before Warren could jump in. “Really. I do. I’ll just see you at the dance, then.”

Warren turned to watch the teacher put up the day’s lesson. After a few moments, Warren leaned over his notebook, looking as if he were taking notes. “Mary, don’t tell your sister that I’m going with Layla.”

Mary turned her head. “Are you afraid of my sister?” Her lips quirked up as he shifted in his seat.

“I don’t want her to come after me…or stop making sweets.”

Mary clamped a hand over her mouth. She tried- she really did- to keep the laughter down, but she found herself clutching her side. Warren Peace was scared that her little sister would stop giving him cookies. He was frowning at her but that only made her laugh harder.

“Miss Lamb!” Mary looked up at the teacher, who was frowning while the rest of the class stared in confusion. “What is so funny that you would disrupt my lesson?”

Mary took slow deep breaths, pushing down the urge to giggle, though a few did escape. She cleared her throat, laughed again, then said, “Comment s'appelle un chien qui vend des médicaments?” She swallowed back her giggle and answered, “Un pharmacien.”

The class stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. Well, it wasn’t like she could tell them the real reason she was laughing like an idiot. Thankfully, the teacher found the joke hilarious and started to giggle. It turned into laughter and it took another three minutes for him to calm down. By that time, the class was confused and Warren was shaking his head. Probably wondering about his choice of befriending Mary.

When Monsieur Gérard finally clamed down, he came back with one of his own jokes.

“La maîtresse demande à Toto:   
– Peux- tu nous citer les quatres éléments?  
– Euh…Oui. Le feu.  
– Oui.  
– La terre.  
– Oui.  
– Le vent?  
– Oui, enfin, l’air.  
– Et euh …  
– Celui qui te sert à te laver …  
– Ah oui le savon!”

 

Mary really couldn’t help the laughter anymore. Out of everything that could have happened today, telling jokes in French class was not on her list of possibilities. Warren ran a hand over his face, as if aggravated, but she could see the smile he was trying to hide. The rest of the class time was spent telling jokes in French and watching half the students understand what was going on.

The bell rang and people collected their books. Warren shook his head as Mary calmed herself after the last joke.   
            “Oh, man,” Mary said, breathing normally and collecting her books. “I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.”

Warren smiled slightly before pushing it away. “Let’s go to gym.”

She followed him out of the room and down the hallway. “You should smile more,” she said. He raised an eyebrow. “You have a really great smile.”

“I prefer-”

“The brooding? I figured.”

Warren shrugged. “It keeps people away.”

Mary snorted. “I think it’s broken, then.” He looked at her. “You’ve been using it since the beginning of the school year and I’ve become your friend and Layla’s using you as a fake date to homecoming.” She smiled apologetically. “I think it’s broken.”

He sighed and pushed the gym doors open.

 

 

**AN:**

**I reposted this chapter because, as it was brought to my attention, the ending was a bit too forced and heavy. I’m writing these chapters as I go and sometimes I have to look back and recognize places that need to be changed.**

**I took a few years of French and the joke Mary tells never gets old.**

**Translated, it says “What do you call a dog who sells drugs?” and the answer is “A pharmacist.” It’s a play on words because ‘chien’ is the French word for dog and the ending of ‘pharmacien’ sounds like the word for dog. It losses a bit in translation but could be considered a French Dad joke.**

**The second joke is this:**

**“** **The teacher asks Toto:** ****  
– Could you name the four elements [for] us?  
– Eh … yes. Fire.  
– Yes.  
– Earth.  
– Yes.  
– Wind?  
– Yes, well, Air.  
– And eh …  
– That which you use to wash yourself with …  
– Oh, yes, soap!”

**And now you know something you may or may not have known before.**


	6. Chapter 6

For the next few school days, Mary was an awful friend. Well, not totally awful in the way she betrayed a close confidence or anything. She just couldn’t help but find never ending entertainment in Layla’s attempts at making Will jealous. Whenever she saw him with Gwen, she’d start talking about going to the dance with Warren loud enough for him to hear or, if Warren was around, she’d pretend to be flirting with him. Warren would roll his eyes and glare or try some other technique to make her go away. Mary was an awful friend because, when Layla had seen Gwen and Will together and had grabbed Warren’s hand, calling him ‘cutie’ and receiving a burned hand in exchange, she had laughed.

            “Hippie is really starting to get on my nerves,” Warren growled during French. They were supposed to be practicing comparisons, but, like normal, Mary and Warren were having their own conversations at the back of the classroom. It wasn’t like anyone was paying attention to what they were doing.

Mary rested her chin on her hand. “You’re the one who wanted to get back at Will. You’re just going to have to deal with Layla’s attention.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Hey,” she said with a grin. “What are friends for?”

“I’m starting to question this friendship.”

Mary shifted so she faced him more. “You only have to do it until the end of the dance. You can hold out for one more day, right?” Warren’s only answer was to roll his head back and sigh. “It could be worse.”

“How?”

“She could insist you two match.” Mary tilted her head as if contemplating something. “I wonder what you would look like in green.”

Warren growled at her, but she only smiled.

The bell rang and Mary slid her books into her bag. “So what are we working on in power training?”

“It’s Save the Citizen. Boomer’s feeling lazy, I guess.” Warren raised a hand as he headed out. “See you there.”

Mary adjusted the bag strap on her shoulder and headed toward her locker. She’d finished the Mad Science homework so she’d need Hero History tonight. The next chapter was on Hero Uniforms and she was actually looking forward to their assignment of designing their own outfits. Maybe she could email some of the pictures to her fashion friends for ideas.

“Mary Lamb.”

She bit back a groan and turned her head. “What do you want, Lash?”

“Can’t a guy talk to a pretty girl?”

“And a girl can ignore you.” She pushed her locker closed and moved to walk around him. He stepped in front of her, smirking down at her.

“I see you and Peace have been getting chummy. I guess you go for the brooding and emotionally constipated types.”

“If I wanted constipated, I would have chosen you.” Mary pushed his arm away and stepped passed him.

Lash flexed back into her walkway, resting his hand on his heart. “I’m hurt, Lamb. I really am.” His smile widened. “I bet you’ll be a great Villain.”

She glared at him. “I’m not going to be a Villain. Just stop asking me to be.”

“Oh, but I don’t need to ask. It’s in you DNA. Your mom, your Grandfather, and you Great Grandfather were all Villains. It’s only a matter of time until you become one, too.” Lash shrugged. “Hey, maybe you could make it a family thing. The twins could be a powerful duo. I wonder what it would take to turn them?”

Mary grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close. “You come anywhere near my siblings and I will put in a force field so compressed that you’ll turn into a stress ball.”

Instead of being scared or even a little cowed, Lash grinned. “Now that sounds like a Villain.” She looked down at her hand and jerked her fingers away. Lash’s shirt was still wrinkled from her grip. He straightened, grinning proudly. “You’re lying to yourself if you think that you’ll be anything other than a Villain. It’s only a matter of time. Better own it now.” He turned and sauntered down the hall, leaving Mary to stare at her hand even as the late bell rang.

She pressed the hand to her middle. She wouldn’t be a Villain. Never. The life of a Villain ended badly. Her mother had been a Villain and she was forever separated from her family. Her entire family had suffered because of Villains. No, she could never be a Villain. There wasn’t a single part of her that wanted that. Her gaze fell to her hand, which had begun to shake. And yet she had lashed out at Lash for provoking her. He’d done it before, but he’d made a point she couldn’t refute: Villains ran in her family. Heck, they’d talked about family legacies in Hero History. Not one of those families had the Hero rise from the Villain family. They became Villains like the generation before them. Was…was Lash right? Was it only a matter of time before she…or the twins? She couldn’t bare it if they…What if she had to take them down if they did? The sudden image of her brother and sister’s broken bodies appeared in her mind’s eye.

Mary’s vision began to blur and she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t cry here. Someone would see. But she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. She needed a place to let everything out. Maybe the girl’s room? Or an empty classroom? Someplace private where she could cry and wallow for a bit. She turned to find a dark corner when the boy’s locker door opened.

Warren stepped out, dressed in his orange school uniform top and blue track pants. His hair fell into his eyes and obscured some of his vision, but he found her just the same. One look at her and he was reaching out. Mary couldn’t stop herself from leaning into his embrace and crying into his chest. Thank god there was no one around them or neither of them would ever live this down.

Warren held her close, rubbing a hand down her back and whispering something in her hair. She couldn’t tell what he was saying, but the soft tone was breaking through everything swirling inside her. They were moving but she didn’t know where her feet were carrying her. It was a while until she felt herself sinking onto a chair. Warren held her and waited for the last of the tears to stop.

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I…”

“It’s ok,” Warren said. “Just breathe.” She did as instructed and looked around her. Warren had led her to the nurse’s office. Nurse Spex wasn’t around, for which Mary was thankful. “I asked the nurse to leave for a bit.”

“Thank you.” Even to herself, Mary sounded weak. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled.

Warren looked slightly uncomfortable but hesitantly asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

For a moment, Mary wanted to say no. That it was just some emotional moment and there was nothing to worry about. But when she saw the effort in Warren’s eyes, his trying to be a good friend, she found herself recounting the incident with Lash. He listened patiently to her story.

“All I could think about was what if Lash was right?” Mary wrung her bag strap in her hands. “What if I turned into a Villain? Or Suzy did? Or Randy? What if I had to stop them? I don’t think I could do it, Warren.” She stopped twisting the fabric and blinked way the tears threatening to form again. She looked up, meeting Warren’s eyes. “What if it’s my destiny to be a Villain?” The tears fell down her cheeks. “It would destroy me.”

He took her hands, gently prying them away from the bag strap. “You will never be a Villain.”

“How can you be so sure?”

He held her hands as he gave her a small smile. “I’ve watched you. A true Villain doesn’t love the twins as you do or make sure Stronghold has finished his homework so he won’t get into trouble. A true Villain doesn’t care the way you do.”

“But a Villain can care,” Mary said. “My mom isn’t a bad person, not really. She made mistakes but she loves our family. Your father loves you, too, right? Villains can care about their families and still be Villains.” Her voice lowered and her eyes lowered slightly. “What stops me from becoming like them?”

Warren reached up and cupped her chin, turning her face so she could meet his gaze. “It doesn’t seem like it, but I have the same doubts. It’s hard to separate yourself from your family’s legacy. You’ll feel like you’re slipping and no one understands or you’ll start doubting yourself. But I’ll be here for you, Mary. I know what you’re going through and I’ll be here to help if I can.” His hand traveled up to cup her cheek. “You’re not alone.”

A small smile slid across her lips and a few tears fell. But they were happy tears. She slowly hugged him, which he returned. “Thank you, Warren.”

He smiled into her hair. “Any time, Lamb.”

Mary was thankful that nothing stopped them from skipping Save the Citizen and she could recover in the nurse’s office without any awkward questions. They stayed there, comforting each other, until the bell rang to dismiss school. Warren squeezed Mary’s shoulder. “You good to make it home?”  
            “Yeah.” She rubbed her hands over her face and gave a watery smile. “I should be fine.”

Warren raised an eyebrow, not believing her too much, but nodded and stood. “I’ll walk you to your bus.”

She laughed softly. “What would people think about that?”

“Screw what they think,” he said, shocking her with his serious tone. “I’m your friend and I’m making sure you get to the bus without Lash or anyone else bugging you.”

Mary stood and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “You’ll lose that reputation of bad brooding pyro.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can always get it back. Regardless of what you or the Hippie do.”

Mary laughed, remembering Layla’s antics. “If you get it back, I’ll believe in miracles.”

The two left the nurse’s office and headed to the busses. They received a few odd and curious looks as they strolled down the hallway, but Mary didn’t seem to mind too much. With Warren by her side, she felt much more sturdy than earlier. They were walking down the outside stairs when Warren paused.

“What’s wrong?” Mary asked, turning toward him.

He looked at her for a moment, his gaze intense and focused on her. She stared back, wondering what was going on through his head. “I’d like to invite myself over after my shift.”

Mary blinked. “That’s a bit blunt,” she said. “But I see no reason why not. Suzy and Randy would like to see you. Anything you want for dinner?”

“I’ll bring some take out,” he said. “A serving of white rice, a serving of fried rice, dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, and General Tso's chicken, right?”

“Should I be concerned that you remember the order I made weeks ago?”

Warren shrugged. “I remember the phone call you got when you picked it up.” He raised an eyebrow. “Will your dad be home? Maybe he should-”

Mary scoffed. “Dad hasn’t been home in a week. He’s been absent for some time, even before we moved to back to Maxville.” She shook her head. “I’ll expect you over after your shift, then. What should I ask Suzy to make? Chocolate? Caramel?”

“Whatever works with Chinese, I guess.”

Mary noticed her bus was almost full. “I’ll see you later, Warren.” He waved and headed off to his own bus.

Mary slipped into her seat on the bus. Layla turned to her. “Are you ok? You weren’t in Save the Citizen.”

“I got a headache and went to the nurse’s office to lay down. Everything’s fine, now,” Mary said as the bus took off. “You excited for the homecoming dance?”

Layla perked up a bit. “Yeah, actually. I found this great dress. Do you have something?”

“I have one or two things from my French friends. I’ll probably choose one of them.”

“Do you want to come over tomorrow and we can get ready together? Mom could take some pictures of us before we leave.”

“That’d be great.” Mary smiled but then paused. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Layla asked.

“I just remembered that I don’t have anyone set up to watch Suzy and Randy.” Mary leaned back in her seat. “I would ask Josie, but she and Steve are going to the dance to be awarded something. You wouldn’t happen to know someone I could ask on such short notice, do you?”

Layla shook her head. “Sorry. I would ask my parents, but they’re taking the opportunity to have their own date night. Won’t your dad be home?”

Mary waved her hand dismissively. “He’s working late nights. Even if he was home, he’d be too tired to watch them.”

Layla frowned, her mind turning over the problem. “What if one of the parents at the bus stop could take them? Maybe agree to a sleepover?”

Mary blinked. “That’s a great idea. I think there’s a pair of siblings both of the twins like. I could ask the parents at the bus stop.” She smiled. “You’re such a good friend.”

Layla grinned back. The bus stopped and Layla, Mary, and Will got off. “I’ll see you tomorrow around noon?” Layla asked.

“Sure thing,” Mary said as she waved to her retreating friends.

It didn’t take long for some of the parents to start showing up to the bus stop. Mary smiled at them, trying to remember who had which kids and if they got along with the twins. A brunette met Mary’s smile and stood next to her.

“You’re Mary Lamb, right? Suzy and Randy’s older sister?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, good. I’m Linda Kowalski, Taylor’s mom. I know this is short notice, but would the twins be interested in coming to a sleepover tomorrow? Taylor’s older brother, Mark, is going to homecoming and Taylor said she wanted her own party. A few of the other kids will be there, too.”

Mary grinned. Her luck couldn’t have gotten better. “Of course. If Suzy and Randy say they want to go, I see no reason why not.”

“Would you parents mind?”

“Oh, not at all. They’ll be thrilled that the twins are making friends.” Okay, so the last part was a bit of a half-truth. Mom would be thrilled; Mary doubted Dad would care. “Should they bring anything with them? Food or drinks?”

“We’ll order some pizza and soda. Are they allergic to anything?”

“Nope.”

The twins’ bus pulled up and the doors opened. The twins ran off, Suzy holding the hand of a small brunette girl with a purple backpack.

“Mary!” Suzy said, running up to her with the girl in tow. “Taylor’s having a sleepover tomorrow and she says we can come if it’s okay with you. Can we go, please? Please?”

“Hold on, whirl wind,” Mary laughed. “Mrs. Kowalski was just telling me about it. If you two want to go, you can.”

Suzy cheered and danced in a circle with the little girl. Randy was smiling, but just watched the girls.

“Here’s my address,” Mrs. Kowalski said, handing Mary a slip of paper. “You can bring them by at 6, ok?” She took Taylor’s hand and they waved as they left.

Mary waved back and then led the twins home. Suzy was animatedly wondering which of her pajamas she should take with her and if she should bring along a stuffed animal. Randy watched the sidewalk.

“Suzy,” Mary said, cutting her sister off. “Why don’t you go ahead and see what we have in the mailbox?” Suzy nodded and ran off. “So,” Mary turned to her brother, “what’s with the long face? Don’t you want to go to Taylor’s party?”

“I do,” he said.

“But?”

“But Mandy Barker’s going to be there.”

“Ah,” Mary said. “Your crush.”

Randy looked up at her. “What if I make a fool of myself? What if she doesn’t like my pajamas or sleeping bag?”

Mary squeezed his hand and smiled. “Just have a fun time and don’t think about it too much. It’s just a party with friends. If she doesn’t like your pajamas, it’s her problem. You like them and that’s all that matters.”

“But what if she doesn’t think I’m cool?”

“If she can’t like you for who you are, should you really spend your time on her?”

Randy paused. “I guess not.” He smiled. “I feel better.”

“Good,” Mary said. “Now, let’s get inside so you can do your homework.”

Randy groaned but walked up the steps and into the house. Suzy was already in the living room with her homework laid out on the coffee table.

“Finish you homework before dinner,” Mary said, setting her bag by the couch. “Warren’s coming over with Chinese food.”

“Warren’s coming?” Suzy perked up, her smile wide. “Are you two finally-”

“We are not dating,” Mary said as Randy pulled his things from his backpack. “He invited himself over and said he would bring food. He wanted to know if you would make something for dessert, though.” Suzy nodded and went back to her work.

Mary made sure that they were occupied before heading to her closet to see what she could wear for the dance.

*

A few hours later, when Mary opened the door to answer the knocking, she didn’t expect to see a distraught Layla on her doorstep.

“Will hates me,” she cried.

Mary gently guided her into the living room and onto the couch. “What are you talking about?”

“I was walking by Will’s house and saw that he was holding a party,” Layla said, wiping her tears away. “I went in and Gwen told me that Will knew I liked him and he thought I was pathetic but he was too nice a guy to tell me so.” She sniffed and hugged herself.

Randy came in with a cup of hot chocolate and held it out for Layla, who took it with a small smile. He then hopped up next to her on the couch and hugged her side.

Mary squeezed Layla’s free hand. “That doesn’t sound like Will,” she said. “Maybe Gwen was trying to get between you two? I mean, there’s no better pair of best friends than you and Will.”

Layla shrugged. “Maybe. But he’s been spending so much time with her. It could be true.”

“From Gwen Greyson?” Suzy said, coming in and leaning on the coffee table. “I don’t think so. She’s so…off.”

“Not a nice person,” Randy said.

“See,” Mary gestured to the twins. “If they say she’s no good, she’s no good. You know how good their twin senses are.” She stared purposefully into Layla’s eyes. “Will will come around and see just how much of a mistake he’s made. You’ll see.”

Layla smiled softly. She took a sip of her hot chocolate but paused when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She set the cup down and pulled out the phone. “It’s Will,” she said, looking up at Mary. “What do I do?”

Mary shrugged. “It’s your call,” she said. “But I don’t think you’re emotionally stable enough to handle him. No offense.”

Layla nodded and hit the button to deny the call. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Thanks, guys.” She smiled at them and stood. “I think I’m going to go for a bit of a walk. Clear my head and see how much that helps.”

Mary walked her to the door. “Are you sure you’ll be ok?”

“Yeah.” Layla rubbed the back of her neck. “Thanks for being a logical voice.”

“It helps that I don’t like Gwen.”

Layla smiled. “Thanks anyway.”

“If you need me, just call.”

Layla nodded and left. Mary closed the door and looked at the twins who were standing by the living room doorway. “Gwen feels off to you?” They nodded. Mary sighed. Once in a while, they had a feeling about people that was completely accurate. It wasn’t to be ignored. “I hope Will knows what he’s doing.”

“He’s stupid,” Randy said, “but I don’t think he’s a idiot.”

Mary smiled slightly at that and shrugged. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” She looked to Suzy. “How’s your dessert coming?”

“My cookies!” Suzy turned and raced into the kitchen. Randy laughed after her.

*

The next time someone knocked on the door, it was Warren with a plastic bag of take out. Mary took the bag. She’d already set the table and simply let the others fill their plates.

“Stronghold was at the Paper Lantern,” Warren said before anyone could start the conversation.

“But he hates Chinese food,” Mary said.

“He was looking for Hippie. He thought I would know where she was because we were going together. Apparently, he was a real jerk or something.”

“He threw a party and Gwen said some pretty hard stuff to Layla.” Warren raised an eyebrow. “She was here earlier, crying about it.”

“Well,” Warren said, using his chopsticks to move the food on his plate, “he’s not going to homecoming, so I guess I don’t have to take Hippie after all.”

“Weren’t you taking Mary?” Suzy asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“There was a mix up but it’s fixed, now,” Mary said quickly. She looked back at Warren, catching his relieved expression before he put up his neutral mask. “So Will’s not going to homecoming and he was looking for Layla. Anything else?”

“He now knows Layla likes him.”

“You told him?” Warren nodded. “How’d he take it?”

“He thinks she’s not into him anymore. Whatever happened at that party has him thinking she hates him.”

“Not hate, but definitely upset.”

“Stronghold’s pretty stupid if he can’t figure out Layla.”

“That’s what I said,” Randy said around a mouthful of white rice.

Mary handed him an extra napkin. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.” She looked at Warren. “You still going to homecoming, then?”

“I did give my word,” he said. “And my Mom’s already looking forward to it. I’m tempted to hide the camera.”

Mary laughed. “Let her have her fun. Her only son’s going to homecoming.” She smiled at his slight scowl. “It could be worse, you know. It could be prom.”

Warren groaned. “I’m so glad we’re sophomores. Mom would make me go if I was old enough.”

Mary hid her smile behind a mouthful of fried rice. Warren might be groaning about the dance, but she could feel that he was a little happy about going. It was probably the slight twitch of the corner of his lip.

Dinner passed with conversation about anything that seemed interesting at the moment. By the time the dishes were cleared away and Suzy had brought out individually served ice cream with cookie crumbles on top, Mary was thoroughly relaxed as if nothing of significance had happened at all that day. She watched Warren with Suzy and Randy, how he seemed to lighten up from what he was like at school. He smiled more easily, something she never failed to notice. If she’d had her camera, she could have captured it five times over. Warren turned and caught her eye, a bright smile still spread across his face. Her chest tightened and a soft gasp escaped her lips. Utter brilliance. She looked away as her cheeks turned red. Why was she reacting like this? Warren was a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. She rubbed her palm over her heart, hoping it would stop beating in her ears. She noticed the time on her watch.

“Bedtime, guys,” she said. The twins groaned. “I know, I know. But you better get your sleep now. You have Taylor’s sleepover tomorrow. You want to try and stay up past midnight, right?”

They nodded and started toward the stairs.

“Good night, Warren,” they called down from the top of the stairs.

He waved up at them. “Night, guys.” They wandered to their rooms and Warren turned to Mary. “I didn’t get a chance to ask. You doing ok?”

She nodded. “Today’s been crazy, but I’m good.” A slight smile pulled at the corner of her lips. “Thanks for coming over. I’ve gotten used to you joining us for dinner.”

Warren smiled, making her heart flip. “Any time you need me to come over, just let me know. I’ll be there before you know it.”

Mary couldn’t help the full smile she gave him. There was just no other way to answer him.

He picked up his backpack and slung it onto his shoulder. “I’ll see you at the dance.”

“You can’t miss me,” she said, momentarily imagining the dress she had hanging up in her room.

Warren opened the front door and paused in the doorway. His smile grew until his teeth flashed at her, transforming his face into a work of art. “I never do,” he said and he was gone, closing the door behind him.

Mary sank onto the stairs, pressing a hand against her pounding heart. Why was she feeling like this? She shouldn’t be feeling like this with a friend. Especially not Warren. He was too good a friend to have these kinds of feelings for. She dropped her head into her hands. Oh, she was so confused. Why did he have to smile like an angel?


	7. Chapter 7

It had been a while since Mary had had a chance to simply sit and leisurely enjoy a hot cup of coffee. Most mornings, she was up and making breakfast for the twins and getting them off to school. But weekends gave her a bit of time to slow down and enjoy herself. If she sat on the far side of the island counter in the kitchen, she could watch the sun rise over the row of trees that separated the neighborhood from the park. If she had been in France, she would be having a croissant with her coffee, but, alas, she had to make due with home made sugar cinnamon toast. She would need the energy to get through dance preparations.

            Mary’s thoughts turned back to Layla’s visit last night and what she’d learned from Warren. Layla and Will needed to talk to one another, but she had a feeling he was going to sulk at home while Layla tried to have fun at the dance even though she would want to be with her friend more than anything. Mary sipped some of the dark brew and nibbled on her toast. Why couldn’t they just simply talk about their feelings? Then again, she wasn’t the best person to give that advice. She was trying to force herself to ignore her growing feelings for Warren.

            Warren. Wonderfully stubborn, brooding, hot tempered Warren whose smile could light up the world as much as his comforting words could. Mary dropped her forehead into her hand. Great. She was reciting poetry. When did she turn into a bad teen novel? She didn’t want a complicated or dramatic romance; she just wanted to have an open and trusting friendship with someone who understood her. She looked down into her coffee and frowned. Did other 14 year olds think like this or was she just stranger than everyone?

            The sun was fully risen now and Mary slid off the tall chair. The twins weren’t early risers like her, but they would be up soon and starving. Bacon and eggs would be good. Half an orange for both of them, too. Mary started in on breakfast and had their food ready by the time they climbed into their chairs.

            “Morning, you two,” she said. “Do you have everything ready for Taylor’s party?” Suzy nodded and Randy shoved some eggs into his mouth. “Good. Now, I promised Layla that I would be by around noon to start getting ready for the dance. Mrs. Kowalski is expecting you at 6, so you’ll have to come with me to Layla and bring your things.”

            “Did you pick a dress?” Suzy asked.

            “I hope it’s the red one,” Randy said, taking a big swallow of milk. “You look good in that one. Victor even said so.”

            Mary smiled. “Victor’s the one who made it. He thinks all of his creations are perfect. But, yeah, I chose the red one.”

            “Ooooh!” Suzy grinned. “Warren will like that one.”

            Mary raised her coffee to hide her blush. “It was that one or the blue one.”

            “The blue is good,” Randy said, “but you’d have to re-dye your hair. The streaks are too faded to pop with that one.”

            Mary ran a hand over her hair. She hadn’t had a chance to really do anything with the blue streaks that were starting to lose their color though hadn’t faded too much. “Maybe later,” she said. “Anyway, my things are ready to go whenever we leave. What do you want to do until noon?”

            “Cartoons,” Randy said.

            “Scooby-doo!” Suzy slipped from her chair and hurried toward the living room. Randy darted after his sister, leaving Mary to clean up their plates with a roll of her eyes.

            There was the usual Saturday morning cartoon line up that lasted until 11:30, when Mary made them a quick lunch, had them gather their things, and out the door to Layla’s.

Mary hadn’t been over to her friend’s house since she got back, which was pretty poor on her part, but it was still hard to miss. The garden out front bloomed brighter than any of the neighbors’ and the honeysuckle by the door made the air smell sweet. Mrs. Williams answered the door when Mary knocked, dressed in an old worn pair of jeans, a green tank top, and a pair of old hiking boots. She had a pair of gardening gloves in her hand.

“Kids, it’s good to see you. Layla’s upstairs. I’ll be in the back working on the garden if you need me.”

“Can we help?” Randy asked.

Mrs Williams chuckled. “Of course. I think I have some extra gloves your size. Let’s go find them.”

The twins put their bags by the door and followed the lady through the house and out the back. Mary stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

The Williams’ house was more open than the Lambs’ or Strongholds’. Where they had walls and corridors to separate the rooms, the Williams’ kitchen and dinning room side of the first floor was open. Only low walls separated it from the living room and every available surface was covered in plants of some kind while still making the place seem uncluttered. There was an obvious smell of soil, herbs, and flowers hanging in the air.

Mary climbed the stairs in the corner that twisted slightly up to the second floor. Layla’s room was at the end of the hall and the door was open, letting out the sounds of the Backstreet Boys. Like most girls, Layla had posters of boy bands up in her room but there were more plants here, as well, all bearing some kind of fruit. The curtains had been pulled back from the large windows to let in the light, something Magenta wasn’t thrilled about. The goth girl wasn’t thrilled about a lot of what Layla was doing to her, including curling her hair in front of the vanity.

“Hey,” Layla said as she finished a curl and put the iron down on the side table. Magenta waved in the mirror.

“Hey.” Mary put her things on the bed. “Listen, Suzy and Randy are going to a sleepover tonight and have to be there at 6. I’ll drop them off and then head to the bus stop.”

“Sure. That gives us pleanty of time to get ready.”

“I don’t get why we have to take so long,” Magenta said, turning in her seat. “You put on a dress, you put your hair up, and you throw on some lip gloss. That hardly takes 6 hours.”

“Not if you do the bare minimum,” Layla said, checking the curlers in her hair to make sure they hadn’t moved. “But we’re in high school and it’s our first dance. We should try for a little bit more, don’t you think?” Magenta rolled her eyes. Layla turned to Mary. “What did you get for a dress?”

“I picked one from my closet.” Mary hung the clothes bag up on a hook and pulled the zipper down. She pushed the sides away to show the red dress. Even Magenta was impressed by it.

“It’s gorgeous,” Layla said, running her fingers gently over the fabric. “It must have been a fortune.”

“It was a gift from a designer friend back in France. He made it for his showcase and asked me to be his model. Afterward, he said I looked so good in it he insisted I take it.” Mary zipped the bag back up to keep from anything getting on it. “I have a few like this back home.”

“Designer friends, huh?” Magenta said, moving to sit on Layla’s bed. “You go to a fancy arts school?”

“It wasn’t really an art school, per se.” Mary kicked her shoes off and climbed onto the bed with a brush, ready to tackle her hair. “They taught regular subjects and everything, but there was a heavy influence of art. Many of my friends were fashion designers or artists. I was one of the few photographers, so I was asked to cover a lot of shows. It was really kind of fun.”

“Have you thought about joining the school newspaper or yearbook committee?” Layla took the seat in front of the vanity.

Mary shrugged, flipping a section of hair over her shoulder. “If I had time, I would. But I have to take care of the twins. That’s kind of a full time job.”

“I don’t think they’d mind.”

Mary shrugged and finished brushing her hair. She collected the curlers she’d brought and started wrapping the strands around the cylinders. She’d thought about joining them, but the twins really did take up a lot of her time. No one else was there for them. Tonight was a treat and she forced herself to think happy thoughts. She pulled out her camera and took a few pictures of the girls.

“Why are you always taking pictures?” Magenta asked as she put her hair back into a bun and letting one soft curl to fall over her shoulder.

“They’re for my mom. She misses a lot of things because of her confinement, so I bring her pictures so she can still be a part of everything.” Mary set the camera aside. “Besides, it’s fun to pull out old photos from time to time and make fun of the fashion choices. I have one of Layla when she went through her pink phase.”

The red head’s mouth fell open. “You do not,” she said.

Mary grinned. “Oh, but I do. Right next to Will’s attempt at cutting his own hair.”

Magenta laughed. “Now that I have to see.”

Layla pointed her finger at Mary. “Don’t you dare.” Mary held her hands up in defense. Layla nodded and turned to her vanity. Mary looked over at Magenta and winked. The picture was pretty timeless.

It took a total of one hour for them to get dressed. That left five hours of them goofing off and laughing in Layla’s room. At one point, Mrs. Williams brought up a few snacks and used Mary’s camera to take a few pictures. Around 5:40, Mary tucked a curl behind her ear and checked her reflection in the mirror by the front door.

“Ok.” She turned to her friends. “I’ll drop the twins off at their sleepover and see you at the bus stop.”

“I can do that for you, dear,” Mrs. Williams said as she picked up her purse. “You three should go enjoy your evening.”

Magenta wore her classic purple and black combo in her dress. She’d pared it with black combat boots, black fishnet gloves, and a black choker. The edgy look suited her. Layla had found a green flowing goddess style dress and styled her hair into soft curls. She looked like she’d jumped out of a mythological painting. Mary wore a single strapped red dress that fell to the floor in a semi-fitted sheath. She’d added a simple gold bangle to her wrist, a black choker, and a small red clutch.

Mary held out her camera to Mrs. Williams. “Would you mind taking a picture?”

“No problem.” She raised the camera to her eye and snapped a few pictures of the girls.

“You look pretty,” Randy said, picking up his bag.

“The red was a good choice,” Suzy said.

Mary pulled them in for a hug and smiled when Mrs. Williams took a picture. “Now, I want you two to be on your best behavior. Have fun, but don’t give the Kowalskis a hard time. Ok?” The twins nodded. “Alright. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”

The group left the house. The girls turned to the left to go to the bus stop and Mr. and Mrs. Williams took the twins to the right. As Mary waited for their ride, she checked to make sure her camera was fully charged and there was an extra card in her bag. She wanted to get as many pictures as she could tonight.

**

The gym had been decorated in streamers and balloons with a large disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Couples already danced on the floor or sat at the round tables provided off to the side. Mary spotted Gwen talking with Penny and a few of her clones. She didn’t seem to be too sad at being dateless.

Layla pulled Mary and Magenta over to a table where Zach and Ethan were already lounging in the chairs.

“Yo!” Zach said, standing up. “You ladies are looking fine.”

Magenta rolled her eyes but Mary smiled and snapped a picture of the boys. “Love the outfits, guys.” Zach’s outfit was as bright as it usual was. Ethan was the same way, grinning in his orange color scheme. “I really enjoy your bowtie, Ethan.”

He grinned. “Thanks.”

Mary set her clutch down on the table and slid the camera strap around her neck. “I’m going to take a few pictures.”

“I’m going to hit the refreshment table,” Layla said.

“I’ll join you,” Ethan said. “Want anything, Zach?”

“Punch and some munchies, dude.”

“Magenta?”

She shrugged and sat down. Mary turned to the dance and started taking pictures of everything. People smiled and waved once they saw the camera. None of them sneered or frowned at her; not one insult or side look was sent her direction. It was like she was just another person. Even though she knew it was because of the camera, their positive attention felt good. After a while, though, she started to get thirsty. She’d circled the large dance floor twice.

Mary turned and spotted Warren and Layla talking by the punch bowl. She laughed when she saw Layla offer him a cheese cube. He shook his head and took it, pulling the food off the toothpick with his teeth. Mary looked him over as she approached. He hadn’t done anything special with his hair, but he looked good in the black suit and matching tie. He filled it out pretty well. She raised her camera and shot a few pictures. She was adjusting the lenses for a close up when he turned. Her heart jumped into her throat at the look in his eyes; surprise, wonder, and…approval? Mary’s finger hit the button and the camera clicked as it captured his expression. She lowered her camera and smiled at him when she came to a stop by his side.

Warren stared, his eyes traveling over her outfit and face. Mary pushed away the blush she felt wanting to rise to her cheeks. Layla nudged his shoulder and he jumped slightly, though he’d probably never admit it.

“You look beautiful.”

Mary couldn’t help the little bit of blush that colored her cheeks; not with the sincerity in his voice. “Thank you,” she said. “You look very handsome.”

He looked down at his suit and shifted slightly from foot to foot. “It was my Dad’s,” he said.

Mary reached out and straightened his tie a bit. “I like it. It’s very suave.”

Warren stared down at her and smiled. That smile was going to be the death of her some day; she just knew it. It also didn’t help that he was standing so close to her that she could smell the hint of cologne he’d put on for tonight. He reached up and tapped the camera around her neck. “Pictures for your mom?”

Mary swallowed hard and looked down the device. “Yeah. I’ve been getting a lot of good ones, too. People are really photogenic. Here, look.” She turned so he could see the screen of her camera and flipped through the pictures she’d taken. Warren stepped closer and leaned down a bit to get a better look. His hair fell forward, tickling her bare shoulder. She could feel the heat we was giving off against her back and felt her body relax.

“You did good, Pics.” His voice sent a shiver up her spine but she turned her head to smile at him.

“Thanks-” She didn’t realize how close he was. Their faces were inches apart. They stared at one another for a moment until Warren cleared his throat and stepped back a bit. Mary instantly missed his warmth.

A spotlight shined on the door and everyone’s attention turned as Commander and Jetstream were announced.   
            “I better get this,” Mary said and darted to an area where she could take pictures of the two entering. She snapped a few before moving off to the side to get a few more when they accepted their award.

In part, she wanted a good picture, but she would be lying if she said it was the only reason she’d retreated from the refreshment table. Warren’s close proximity had started to affect her and she didn’t want to deal with those kinds of confusing feelings right now. It really didn’t help that he looked absolutely fantastic in a suit. If he pushed his hair back to show more of his face, he’d be stunning. She looked over at the refreshment table and smiled as she watched Warren pick up another cheese cube.

Her attention was brought back to the stage as electric charges brought out two large metal strips from the side of the stage. They spelt out Royal Pain in bright gold yellow. A green imp like man jumped onto the stage and pulled out a large sci-fi looking gun. A collective gasp rolled over the gym.

“Royal Pain,” Commander said slowly, “is a girl.”

“Yes, I’m a girl, you idiot,” Gwen said, her helmet deepening her voice and adding a robot feel to it. “How I ever lost to fool like you, I’ll never know. Now prepare to be Pacified.”

Commander put his fists on his hips in a confident and cocky manner. “Do you honestly think you could kill me with that little toy gun of yours?”

“Why, my dear Commander, who said anything about killing you?” Royal Pain raised the gun and fired. A stream of light hit the Commander in the chest and Mary watched in shock as he started to shrink. She shielded her eyes from the light and, when she looked back, she gasped to see a baby where he had once stood. Royal Pain had turned him into a baby?

Panic quickly spread as more people were turned into babies. Mary looked for her friends. Thankfully, they hadn’t moved from the table. She was by their side in a flash. Warren gripped her elbow and pulled her toward the gym exits, but stopped. Lash, Penny, and Speed had pulled the gates down, trapping people inside. Mary looked for another exit. “The ducts,” she said, pointing to an air duct grate in the corner. She turned to Warren. “Get the others out. I’ll cover you.”

Warren blew the grate off with a fireball. Layla, Ethan, and Magenta climbed into the crate as Mary maintained a barrier between them and the Pacifier’s ray. Royal Pain was aiming it at the disco ball and randomly hitting people. Mary was having a hard time trying to keep her barrier up as well as throw up enough to stop the rays from hitting the other students. She could only maintain two barriers. She threw a look over her shoulder and watched Zach vanish into the vents.

“Mary, let’s go,” Warran said.

            She turned to go, but saw the Pacifier’s ray hit the disco ball and split. Both were headed for two groups of huddled kids. She managed to throw up barriers in front of them, blocking the attack. A sigh escaped her as the kids looked up, unharmed, but her defense had caused her to drop the barrier protecting her.

The ray hit her straight in the chest, making her gasp as she felt her body start to shrink. Her knees hit the gym floor. She was changing but she couldn’t stop it. She had only a moment to meet Warren’s surprised gaze as he climbed into the vent before she passed out. At least he would be safe.

*

Where was she? Why wasn’t anyone paying attention to her? Where was Mommy? Mary looked around, her lip trembling. She wanted Mommy. A wail erupted from her lungs.

“Shut up, you little brat,” someone said.

Mary turned her head and cried again. A large scary green creature with pointy ears and nose picked her up. She waved her arms, trying to scare him away, but he only put her in a seat and strapped her in. No! She didn’t want to be in the seat. She wanted Mommy! She started to scream again and others joined in. Where were those kids’ mommies? Why wasn’t anyone helping them?

Her seat stared to move and she tried to see who was carrying her. Were they taking her to Mommy? They were going through a shiny area and she was loaded onto something that was moving her. She whimpered. She didn’t know what was going on and she wanted Mommy. She wanted to cry, but she was growing tired. Her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep.

*

Who was holding her? She was warm and comfortable. Mary opened her eyes and curled her fingers into the shirt of whoever was holding her. She looked up. The man felt nice and safe. A coo left her lips, drawing the man’s attention. He looked down at her and smiled softly.

“Everything’s going to be ok. Just sit tight.”

Mary gurgled happily and rubbed her head against him. She liked his voice. He shifted her closer to his chest and then set her down. She whined, reaching out for him. No. He couldn’t leave her. She didn’t want him to. Something hit her back and she cried as her body began to grow and stretch. Mary curled into herself and waited for her muscles and bones to stop pulling themselves apart. When it did, she felt something fall around her shoulders and someone helping her to her feet. She took a couple steps and leaned against her assistant.

“I got you,” Warren said. “Easy, Lamb.”

Mary opened her eyes and stared up at him as he led her back to the gym. He’d lost his jacket some time ago and his tie was hanging loose around his neck. “What happened?” Her voice scratched a bit and she coughed.

Warren stopped them and pulled her out of the main walking area until her coughing stopped. “What do you remember?”

“Gwen was Royal Pain or something and was turning people into babies.” She rubbed her temple and suddenly realized that the only thing covering her was a large sheet that was usually on Nurse Spex’ beds in the infirmary. Mary blushed and pulled the blanket tighter around her. Oh God! Warren had seen her naked! Could this get any worse?

“You were hit with the Pacifier,” Warren said, unaware of her internal panic. “You were covering our escape and got hit. Ethan, Zach, Magenta, Layla, Will, and I managed to stop Royal Pain and Medulla was enough of his old self to make a reverse ray to change people back into themselves.” He reached out and pulled her in for a hug. The move shocked her out of her mental storm and back into the moment. He was so warm and solid. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”

Mary wanted to wrap her arms around him, but she couldn’t move her arms or risk the blanket falling. Her fingers curled into his shirt and she turned her face into his neck. “You all got out and saved the day. And you turned me back into a teenager.” She pulled back enough to meet his eyes, smiling up at him. “You’re a hero, Warren.” His eyes widened and her cheeks warmed. “My hero.”

Warren drew her into another firm hug. She leaned into the embrace. He’d proven himself to be just as good a Hero as any other Super. She’d known for a while, but she guessed he was just coming to that realization. His hands were warm where he pressed them against her back. Mary blushed and pulled back slightly. He gave her a confused look.

“I love the hugs. I really do,” she said. “But maybe I could get them when I’m not wearing a blanket in the middle of the hallway?”

Warren looked down and she had to chuckle at the blush that sprang to his cheeks. “Right. Here.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her to the gym. She was thankful for the support. Her legs felt like jello from the transformation from baby to teen. She found her clothes in a pile, her camera on top. She checked the camera first and, seeing that it hadn’t been damaged, scooped her clothes up and headed for the lockers to change.

Once clad in her dress once more, Mary went in search for her friends. They were glad to see her unharmed and Layla drew her into a hug, recounting what had happened at rapid speed. Mary still felt a bit unsteady and so held her shoes in her hand while she used Warren as a leaning post.

“Will can fly.” Mary smiled at the boy. “Now you don’t have to take the bus.”

He smiled back. “Yeah. How are you?”

“I’m trying to get my legs back under me but I’ll be fine in a minute or two.” She looked down at where Layla and Will were holding hands. “And good for you two. It took you long enough.”

Will was about to say something, but Josie and Steve stepped up to their group. “Are you all ok?” Josie asked.

“We’re fine,” Will said. “Dad, Mom, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. This whole thing was my fault.”

“Oh, you can’t blame yourself,” Josie said.

“Of course not,” Steve said. “How were you to know your girlfriend was a complete and total psychopath?”  
            “No, that’s not it. Um, you gave me one rule and I broke it. I let Gwen into the Sanctum and that’s how she got the Pacifier. The whole party was a trap.”

“And so was the homecoming,” Steve said. “We all fell into Royal Pain’s trap. But you defeated her. You saved Sky High and everyone in her.”

Will looked at his friends around them. “Well, I didn’t do it by myself.” The others smiled back.

“You’ve shown yourselves to be true heroes,” Josie said and Steve nodded proudly.

The two super heroes turned to go back to the gym, but the Commander stopped in front of Warren. Mary felt him tense a bit against her shoulder. She pressed her palm against the small of his back for comfort. Facing the man who put your dad away was pretty tense.

Steve extended his hand, shocking Warren for a moment before he hesitantly took it. “Your father would be proud.” Warren blinked, his mouth falling open slightly before he recovered and nodded. Steve nodded at Mary before offering his wife his arm. Josie took it and they returned to the gym.

“Woah,” Ethan said. “That was epically cool.”

“Yeah,” Mary said, rubbing Warren’s back slightly. “Very cool.” She watched him for a moment, waiting for some kind of reaction.

“Dudes,” Zach said, grinning. “Let’s head back to the gym and get our party on.”

“You guys go ahead,” Mary said. “We’ll catch up.” The others nodded and left them in the hallway. There were people still carrying babies into the nearby classroom with the reverse ray but they seemed to ignore the two.

“Warren?”

He looked down at her. Confusion was what filled most of his eyes. But she could also see amazement and pride. “That just happened.”

Mary smiled softly. “Yes it did.” She walked around until she was standing in front of him. “How do you feel?”

“A bit…surreal.” He looked down the hallway where everyone had gone. “To be honest, I’m a little…happy that the Commander recognized me, you know? On the other, I’m a little guilty feeling happy about it. He put my dad away and I fought his son. I should be- I don’t know- be angry or something.” He shook his head as if to clear it.

Mary took his hands. “Breathe.” He nodded and did as she said. “It’s ok to feel happy. One of the most famous and successful superheroes of our time just called you a hero and said your dad would be proud of you. That kind of praise would make anyone happy. You don’t have to feel bad about anything.” Warren’s shoulders relaxed and he slowly let out the air he was holding. Mary shook his hands a bit, grabbing his attention. “No matter what anyone says, Warren Peace, you are a Hero of your own making.”

Warren smirked. “You should make shirts, Lamb.”

“Or maybe bumper stickers,” she said.

He fully smiled and shook his head. “Things are never boring with you around.”

She laughed. “You may miss that some day.”

“Don’t think so.” He pulled one of his hands free and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “Thanks for being here.”

Mary reached up and wrapped her fingers around his wrist as her own arm found its way around his waist. “What are friends for?” She leaned into his warmth.

He nodded and said, “We better get back in there. I owe you a dance.”

Mary let him lead her back into the gym. As they danced to the upbeat song drifting through the speakers, she momentarily wondered if this pattern of excitement would continue through the year. She didn’t know how to feel about that. But Mom was going to love this story on their next visit.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Mary was about ready to drop. Her feet ached from dancing and her camera cards were full of pictures from the dance. She leaned back in her seat, watching the new couples dance. Magenta had come out of her darker attitude and was enjoying herself with Zach, whose dancing mimicked someone having a seizure, though neither of them cared. Will and Layla were swaying, their go to dance since they'd gotten together. Ethan had found a tall sophomore to dance with and they were on their third dance so far.

Warren sank into the seat next to her, placing two cups of punch and a plate of snacks on the table. Mary grabbed a carrot. "Who said you could have any?" Warren asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Want it back?" Warren rolled his eyes with a slight smile. Mary finished off the carrot and reached for one of the cups. "Enjoying yourself?"

Warren leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on the chair across from him. "More than I thought I would." He chewed on a grape and smiled. "The dance being a trap and the school being turned into babies was a twist."

Mary grabbed another carrot. "How will they top this for the next time?"

Warren shrugged, grabbing another grape. "They could set something on fire."

"Ah, so you're joining the dance committee?"

"Yeah. Right after you join the cheerleading squad."

The two laughed. Mary pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked over the dance floor again. "I wonder what it will be like on Monday."

Warren shrugged, his gaze following hers over the new couples and partying teens. "I'm not sure if anything will." Mary met his gaze. "This school has seen a good number of villains and henchmen leave this school. It's literally a career option when you graduate. They may not advertise it, but Sky High has probably had a few attempted takeovers in the past. And the Hero/Sidekick system doesn't seem to have really changed beyond a few tweaks here or there."

Mary's smile had faded slightly as Warren talked. She hadn't thought about that. "They really haven't changed things to reduce the risk of making super villains?" She slumped in her chair. "That's depressing." Her eyes traveled over the crowd. How many here would go on to be villains? Who would rise and who would fall? They were here to learn to be Heroes, but not all could go that way. It was impossible.

"Of course," Warren said, breaking through her thoughts, "if we got the right person on the student council- someone who could put things into motion- some real changes could be made."

Turning to face him, Mary narrowed her eyes. "Who were you thinking?" He looked out onto the floor and she followed. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Warren with a grin. "You're a genius."

"I'm not just a pretty face."

"Layla's perfect. She's knows how to get things done. She's an activist for at least a dozen other things and if she gets Will on it, his reputation could help move things along." Mary laughed and looked back at the swaying couple. But her enthusiasm dimmed as a thought occurred to her. "How do we sell them on the idea, though? We can't make them run for student council."

Warren shrugged. "Beats me. I only came up with the idea." He stood suddenly and held out his hand. "Last dance. Join me?"

Mary smiled and slid her hand into his. "Love to." She didn't bother to grab her shoes as he led her onto the floor and pulled her close. She loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, blushing a little as his circled her waist. They swayed like the other pairs on the floor. Mary rested her cheek against his shoulder and his head was bowed slightly to look down at her. She was content leaning against him and soaking in his warmth as their swaying slowed until it resembled lazy shifting. She felt safe and cared for in his embrace, like nothing could ever touch her as long as he was there. He may not feel the same way, but she would imagine he did for just this one song. All too soon, though, the song ended and the gym lights turned on. Mary blinked at the sudden brightness and lowered her hand from Warren's shoulder to shield her eyes. Warren turned his head away from the lights to let his own eyes adjust, his hair once more brushing her bare shoulder. She leaned closer to him, smiling at the soft caress.

"Please report to the busses," Principal Powers said over the loud speakers. "They shall return you home and, despite the setback tonight, thank you for coming out."

Warren led Mary to the table and held out an arm for her to grab as she slid her heals back onto her aching feet. Once she was stable, they grabbed their things and followed the crowd out to the busses. Layla and Will climbed onto Ron Wilson's bus, grinning at the man before taking their seats. Magenta, Zach, and Ethan followed the two. Mary turned to Warren.

"Would you like to come over tomorrow?"

Warren shook his head. "I can't. Work." He smiled softly. "But I'll see you Monday." Mary matched his smile and nodded. She reached out and hugged him. He hesitated for a moment before his strong arms pulled her closer. Their embrace lasted for a few moments before Warren had to pull away to catch his own bus.

Mary sank into her own seat on the bus and grinned at her friends across the aisle. "What a night."

Will laughed, his arm draped over Layla's shoulders. "You can say that again."

Layla leaned against Will's shoulder, smiling to herself. It had taken a long time, but they were finally together. Mary couldn't be happier for them. They deserved to be happy.

Mary pulled her feet up under her, barely seeing the homecoming pictures spread across the coffee table or the cup of tea that was starting to grow cold. She'd gone through her nightly routine already, but wasn't the least bit interested in climbing into bed. The house was too quiet and empty. The lights she'd turned on in the living room chased away a bit of the darkness, but it couldn't stop her from missing her siblings. They'd have filled the silence with their laughter and arguments. Without them around, Mary felt lonely, curled up on the couch in her pajamas.

Did she put too much focus on the twins? She was doing all she could to make sure they were loved and cared for, but maybe Layla and Magenta had a point that she should do something for herself. She'd had more time to herself in France- enough time to cover photo shoots, catwalks, and other projects from her old school- but not so much since her return to Maxville.

She focused on the pictures and picked one up. It was the one she'd shot of Principle Powers and Coach Boomer dancing after everyone had been turned back into their normal selves. It was a pretty good shot, actually. Maybe she should look into the yearbook or school newspaper. Having specific projects to work on might help her image at school. People hadn't really seen her as a villain's kid when she was taking pictures. She'd had a bit of respect.

Mary put it off to the side and moved a few other pictures around. Magenta would love this picture of Zach wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She looked like she wasn't impressed with him, but the slight upturn of her lips proved otherwise. Mary bet the two of them would be a couple by the end of the term. She looked over the shots of her friends, the couples appearing clearly in the pictures; Will and Layla, Magenta and Zach, Ethan and the sophomore girl. Everyone seemed to be pairing off. Would they focus on their partner and forget about her?

She shook those thoughts away and slid the pictures into a stack, wrapping a rubber band around them. Mom would love to see these. Maybe a visit was in order for tomorrow.

***

With Randy and Suzy asking to stay longer at Taylor's house to play, Mary was the only one waiting in the room at the prison Saturday afternoon. She'd worn a simple green dress that her mother favored and had braided her hair out of her eyes. Mary absently wondered if she should pick up some hair dye on the way home to fix her blue streaks. The stack of homecoming pictures was laid out in front of her on the table.

Trisha Lamb was led in and settled like normal in her chair. She grinned at her daughter. "Homecoming was eventful, so I hear."

Mary blinked. "How could you know so soon? It happened just last night."

"Villain news travels fast here. The idea had merit but it's hard for someone so young to pull something so intricate off."

"Well, I think Gwen- or Sue, really- had more than enough time to plan everything if she her memories of an adult when she was turned into a baby by the Pacifier."

Trisha shrugged. "Well, if she ends up here, she'll be in interesting company. Barron's got some sort of score to settle with her or something from high school." She leaned forward and grinned. "But let's not talk about Sue. Tell me how everything else went."

Mary spent the next ten minutes rambling about what happened, who wore what, and showing off the pictures she'd taken. Anything she could remember, she told to her mom. Trisha became concerned when Mary told her that she'd been turned into a baby, but was pleased that she hadn't been harmed in her infant state. She held her daughter's hand as Mary continued with her recount of the dance.

"Will and Layla are now together, too. They couldn't be separated last night. Here," she pulled out a picture of the two swaying on the dance floor and handed it over. "Warren says that we should get them to run for student council. They might be able to change things enough so there aren't so many villains like Gwen."

Trisha smiled at her daughter. "It's an admirable goal, dear. I hope you just remember that some people will always be villains and that can't change. Besides, if there weren't villains, a lot of people would be out of work."

Mary chuckled mirthlessly. "True enough."

"By the way," Trisha said, lifting up a picture and smiling softly, "how are you and Warren doing?"

"Good." Mary smiled and leaned her arms on the table. "We talk and laugh, even joke around a bit. He's intelligent and very sweet when you can get him to open up. I couldn't ask for a better friend, Mom. He's just so…wonderful."

"I can see that." At Mary's questioning look, Trisha turned the photo around. Mary's eyes widened.

It was of her and Warren, standing close to one another on the dance floor for the last dance. Her head was tucked against his shoulder and they held one another almost lovingly. Mary reached out and slowly took the picture, drawing it closer. Had Warren really looked at her with such a soft and sweet expression? Did they really look so comfortable together?

Trisha smiled. "It seems you and Warren are closer to being a couple than either one of you thinks." She chuckled. "Won't Barron be surprised?"

Mary stared at the picture for a while longer before putting it back on the stack. She'd have to print out her own copy. That was a picture she might like to have with her.

"So," Mary said. "How have you been? Anything new or interesting here?"

Trisha smiled at her daughter but allowed the topic change. She started talking about how she'd just been granted permission to join some of the recreational groups. She was deciding between the book club or the gardening club. Nina Flores, aka Villainess, had suggested basketball but Trisha wasn't very sporty. Mary laughed as she remembered her mom trying to teach her how to shoot a hoop and had ended up giving herself a black eye.

The rest of the visit was filled with random chatter and nothing of real value. It was just good to talk with her mom again like the old days. Mary almost wanted to frown when Joey came in to tell them their time was up, but he was only doing his job. The two women stood and, with a quick check to Joey for approval, embraced before either of them left.

"I'm glad you visit so often," Joey said as he escorted Mary to the security check out point. "She's really missed you the past year."

"We've all missed her, too." Mary smiled up at the man. "Thanks for looking out for her, Joey. It means a lot to us."

He grinned. "Anything to make a pretty girl smile." Mary laughed as he wiggled his eyebrows from under the brim of his security cap and walked away to allow the other security officers to check Mary for anything being smuggled out.

Once out into the bright afternoon, Mary continued to the bus stop for the ride home.

***

The twins couldn't stop talking about the sleepover. Thanks to years of practice, Mary was able to listen to the two simultaneous narratives of the evening while fixing dinner. They talked straight through dinner and it was only when they were digging into their ice cream that they asked about homecoming. Mary told them everything- except for her moments with Warren- and even pulled the photos up on her computer after they finished their dessert.

"What was it like being a baby?" Randy asked from his seat on the couch next to Mary.

"Strange. I remember thinking that I wanted Mom and constantly crying because I didn't know what was going on or where I was. I know what happened now, but I was so confused at the time."

Suzy climbed into Mary's lap and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck. "I'm glad you're ok," she said as she buried her face into Mary's shoulder.

Mary held her close. "Me, too."

Randy looked through the photos on the laptop. "Will and Layla are together?"

"It's about time," Suzy said, resting her head against Mary's shoulder as she stared at the photo of the two teens.

Randy flipped to the next picture. "It only took a super villain to ruin a dance and almost make the school fall from the sky."

"Not the most ideal situation, but will make one heck of a story later in life," Mary said.

"You think they'll stay together and get married?"

"Don't know. Maybe."

Suzy smiled. "They'll be good together." She looked up at Mary. "Can you read us a story tonight?"

Mary smiled and kissed her sister's forehead. "Of course. How about Jack and the Beanstalk or Rapunzel?"

"Can you read us Beauty and the Beast?" Randy asked, looking up with eager eyes.

"Yeah," Suzy chimed in.

"Anything you want." Mary stood, shifting Suzy to her hip. Randy raised his arms and she lifted him, too, settling him on her opposite hip. She had to adjust them slightly, but managed to get up the stairs with little problem.

She tucked them into Suzy's bed and read them their story. They fell asleep just as she was saying the final words, so she kissed them goodnight and retired to her own bed. She felt much better with the twins home. Falling asleep was easy.

***

Monday morning found Will and Layla walking to the bus stop hand in hand. It brought a smile to Mary's face and she snapped a quick picture of the two.

"Have a good weekend?"

Layla smiled. "Wonderful. You?"

"I visited Mom. You know, they'd already heard about homecoming in the prison. Mom said news like that travels pretty quickly."

"Do you think Gwen will be put in the same prison?"

Mary shrugged. "Hard to say. The prison has some pretty high profile villains. I guess the courts will have to figure out if she's worth a cell there. Besides, I'm not sure if they'll try her as a 17 year old or as someone older. I mean, she's already lived an entire life but then turned into a baby." She laughed slightly. The trial would be a mess, that's for sure.

"Do you think anything will be different at school?" Will asked.

"I don't think things could stay the same after the dance," Layla said. "A villain tried to make the school fall out of the sky. How are we supposed to keep things the same?"

"Warren thinks there may have been school take overs in the past and nothing's really changed because of them," Mary said as the bus pulled up.

The doors opened and they climbed in, heading to their seats as the other riders applauded them. Will smiled and slapped a few high fives. The three sat down in their seats near Magenta, Zach, and Ethan.

"Something should be done about that," Layla said as they sat down.

"About what?" Ethan asked.

"How nothing changes even though there may have been more villain attacks in the past." Layla turned in her seat to look at all of her friends. "If something happens, shouldn't it be up to us as students to try and fix it? Maybe we could do something to change things."

As the bus took off, Mary turned to Layla and Will. "Have you two thought about running for student council?"


	9. Chapter 9

Layla took off with the idea of running for student council. The rest of the bus ride, she was jotting down things she what she would change once in office, how to run for office, and was even sketching out a plan for the next 3 years. Mary was truly impressed at her friend’s focus. She would be a force to be reckoned with if she was elected.

The bus touched down and the riders disembarked. Mary scanned the area and smiled when she spotted Warren leaning against a wall by the main steps. She turned to her friends. “I’ll see you at lunch.” They nodded and she hurried across the lawn. Warren gave her a small smile as she came closer. “Good morning,” she said, answering his smile with one of her own.

He nodded and they started up the steps. “Everything good at home?”

Mary nodded. “The twins thought the whole homecoming thing was cool and Mom was concerned, but glad that I’m ok. How did your mom react?”

“She was pretty protective of me for a while.” Warren lowered his voice and shifted his bag on his shoulder. “She kept putting food in front of me, asking if I was all right, and constantly touching my arm.”

“She was making sure you were ok. That’s sweet.”

Warren held the door open and followed after her as she walked through. They strolled down the hallway, both aware of the stares following them. Mary had been expecting the wary looks and was pleasantly surprised at a few polite nods in her direction, but she wasn’t too pleased with the looks some of the girls were sending Warren. Before he’d saved the school, they’d looked at him with disinterest and disdain. Now, they looked at him with attraction and far too much interest. Their shallowness irked her.

The two of them stopped in front of Warren’s locker. He spun in the combination and pulled the door open, slipping some of his books into his bag. “She wants me to invite you and the twins over for dinner on Friday.”

“Who?”

“My mom.”

Mary blinked. “Your mom wants me and the twins to come over for dinner?”

“She has a day off and wants to meet you. Says that you sound interesting.”

She smiled, leaning against the lockers. “Warren Peace, have you been talking about me?” He tried to glare at her, but the slight flush of his cheeks didn’t help the fierce look he was going for. “But I’d love to come over. And the twins will be thrilled, too.” His expression softened and his lips curled slightly. The bell rang and Mary straightened. “See you at lunch?” He nodded and she left with a squeeze to his arm.

Mary slid into her seat as the late bell rang and Mr. Medulla turned to the class. “I’m glad to see that the events of Homecoming hasn’t hurt attendance. I assume it also hasn’t hurt your studying. We’ll see how you all do with this surprise test.”

With a frown, Mary turned to the paper on her desk. There had to be seven sheets here, double sided. Sure, she’d read the chapters and done the homework, but what had Medulla been thinking with this test? Her fingers flexed around her pen and started in on the questions.

****

A groan slipped from Mary’s lips as she sank onto the lunch table’s bench. Slumping forward, she rested her forehead on the table.

“Lamb?”

She rolled her head up to watch Warren take a seat across from her. His brow was furrowed as he placed his bag on the table. Mary pulled herself up and sighed. “A seven page test in Mad Science, assigned groups for group presentations in three other classes, and a long winded lecture on things we’ve already covered in Hero History. I’m exhausted.”

“The teachers usually heap on more work right before midterms and finals. They want to make sure you understand what’s going on.”

Mary rubbed her face and pulled out her lunch. She spread it out in front of her, setting the plastic bag of mini pastries between her and Warren. He raised an eyebrow at the sweets. “Suzy’s been working on a new recipe. She wanted to know what you think. They’re mini caramel apple pastries.”

He picked one of the pastries up and bit off half. He nodded, finishing the rest of the treat and reaching for another one. Mary chuckled. “I assume you like it?”

Warren swallowed his mouthful and grinned. Her heart fluttered in her chest. “She’s got a real talent. Must get it from her sister.” Mary’s cheeks warmed at the praise.

“Are those sweets?” Zach asked, sitting at the table. The others in their group sat down with their lunch trays.

“Suzy’s new recipe.” Mary watched as Zach grabbed one of the pastries. Warren glared, but Mary pushed the rest of the sweets to his side of the table. He gave her a slight smile and took another one as Zach moaned.

“Oh, man. Your sister’s gotten good, Mary.”

She nodded at Zach’s praise and reached for her water. Her hand paused on the bottle as her vision began to blur for a moment. She shook her head to clear it and took a long swig of liquid. Something pressed against her foot, bringing her attention to Warren.

“Are you feeling ok?” he asked, slipping into French.

“Just a little dizzy,” she said in the same language. “I think everything’s catching up to me.”

“Do you need to go to the nurse?”

“I’ll be fine once I get home and sleep.”

“You haven’t been sleeping well?”

Mary chuckled slightly and pressed her foot against his under the table. “I’m glad you’re concerned about me, but you don’t have to be. I’m fine.”

Warren didn’t look completely convinced, but Mary’s smile put him slightly at ease. She hadn’t been feeling at the top of her game this morning, but she had written that off as staying up too late with the twins. A good night’s rest would do her some good.

“It’s cute that you two talk in your own language,” Layla said with a smile as she watched them.

Warren glared at her. “Don’t call me cute.”

Mary sipped her water, hiding her smile. It would take a little while for him to get used to the others, but she was sure he’d come around sooner or later. The others would grow on him sooner or later. “We’re practicing our French. There’s probably going to be a test soon. All my other classes have been passing them out like candy, so I though a bit of practice couldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah, man,” Zach said. “We’ve been getting hit with those, too.”

The others started to talk about their own tests and complaining about the homework they were most likely going to get in the upcoming days. Mary turned to Warren and nudged his foot. “You good?” she asked, falling back into French.

“Is them sitting here going to be a regular thing?”

“Why? Don’t like the crowd?”

Warren shrugged. “We didn’t exactly get along so well before homecoming.”

“But you worked well together during the dance.” Warren’s eyes narrowed slightly, showing how nervous he was. “I know that interacting with people might be strange for a while, especially since you’re moving from the brooding pyro to a kid making friends. It’s a big shift and it’ll take time. You shouldn’t push yourself too much; just go at your own pace.” Mary nudged his foot in comfort. “These guys didn’t leave me when they found out about my mom and they’ll be loyal once they get to know you. They’re good friends if you give them half the chance. And I will always be here for you.”

Warren stared at her in wonder, hope, and gratefulness. Mary had suspected that his fears were about the others and what they would think. Having no one else to lean on because of your reputation had put up walls and he would have to learn that those walls could come down with the right motivation. That was something she’d had to learn in France and was glad she’d had a group of friends who cared enough to try.

The bell rang for the end of lunch. Mary collected her things and waved goodbye to her friends as she headed to her next class.

As predicted, there were tests in those, too. By the time she dragged herself into French class, she was ready for the day to be over. When the teacher announced that they would just be talking in French for the rest of the class in preparation of their midterms, Mary dubbed him her favorite teacher. She crossed her arms on her desk, ready to set her head down and maybe rest her eyes for a bit.

“Sleeping in class? I’m rubbing off on you, Lamb.”

Mary leaned back in her seat, rolling her head to the side so she could see his satisfied smirk. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.” Her gaze swept the room, taking in the partners and groups chatting in faulty French. She looked back to Warren and paused when she saw the concern in on his face. “What?”

“You don’t look so hot.”

Mary wanted to quip something back, but squeezed her eyes shut from a sudden light-headedness. She rubbed her forehead and smiled slightly. “I’m fine. I just need some sleep.”

“Do you want to practice or go to the nurse?”

Mary rested her cheek on her palm. “Maybe-”

“Um…Warren?”

The two looked up at a preppy blonde haired girl standing by Warren’s desk. There was a faint blush to her cheeks and her fingers curled into the hem of her sweater top.

The concern on Warren’s face was quickly replaced with a fierce scowl. Mary smiled slightly as she watched the girl shrink a little in on herself. “What?” Warren growled.

“I-I was w-wondering if we c-could practice t-together.”

Mary would have to admit she was a brave little thing to approach the pyro, but that didn’t stop the sense of possessiveness to rise up in Mary’s chest. The intensity surprised her, but she focused on the interaction in front of her. Despite the blurring at the edge of her vision.

Warren frowned. “Why?”

“W-well, I’ve heard you two b-back here and w-wanted to know-”

“We’re not tutoring anyone,” Warren cut in. “Find someone else to help.”

The girl opened her mouth to say something else, but Warren’s scowl intensified, sending the girl running back to her seat. A few of her friends looked their way with frowns, but turned away when they saw Warren’s expression.

Mary smiled slightly. “I thought you were getting better at socializing.”

“You and Stronghold’s group are my limit.”

“That’s good.” Mary’s eyes started to droop. Why was she so tired? Her cheek slipped from her hand and she jolted up straight.

Warren was watching her but didn’t say anything. She would deny feeling anything less than fine. After everything that had happened, she didn’t want him to worry about her like he had when she’d been turned into a baby. No one should have to worry about her like that; it was too much of a burden.

The bell rang and Mary slowly collected her things. Power Training was a bit of a blur, as was getting home. She remembered taking the twins home and getting them dinner, but any time after that was a bit foggy. She didn’t even remember going to bed, but the bright ray of sunshine found her huddled under her covers with her face pressed into her pillow.

Mary groaned and rolled away from the light, pulling her comforter more firmly around her. She peeled her eyes open, wincing at the sandpaper feel, and looked at the clock on her bedside table. She paled and jumped out of bed. It couldn’t be that time! She was so late!

“Suzy! Randy!” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and struggled to get her shoes on. “Get up! You’re going to be late!”

Mary leaned against the bed for a moment, her vision blurring and her chest burning with lack of proper airflow. She shook her head and pulled on a sweater. She’d just have to go to school in her pajamas. Grabbing her bag and shoes, Mary hurried to her siblings’ rooms.

“We have to go. Come on, guys.”

But they weren’t there. Their beds were made and their bags were gone. They must have gotten up on their own. Thank goodness. Mary turned and hurried down the steps. “Guys, are you ready for school? I’m sorry I couldn’t get your lunches made. I can give you some money for-” She stopped in the kitchen, staring at the note perched on top of a covered bowl. A glass of orange juice was sitting next to it. Mary unfolded the note, scanning Randy’s jagged handwriting.

_Mary,_

_You didn’t look so good so we let you sleep. Suzy made oatmeal. Please get some sleep. Don’t go to school._

_Love you lots,_

_Randy and Suzy_

 

Mary sighed and folded the note. She could have faked being ok long enough to see them off to the bus. They didn’t need to take care of her, that was her job. She looked at the bowl and sat, removing the cover. Two raspberries were placed on top, a line Cheerios curved to make a smiling face. Mary smiled back before eating a bit. She instantly had to take a long drink of orange juice. How could they have messed up instant oatmeal? Mary coughed and looked at the food again before quickly finishing it all. No way was she going to let their efforts go to waste. Even if she did have to down three cups of coffee to rid her mouth of the disturbing aftertaste.

A look at the oven clock confirmed her suspicion that she’d already missed the bus to school. It was probably for the best, though. Her entire body seemed to have declared war on her. She’d barely be able to pay attention to anything going on. A quick call to the school to explain what was going on, a hot shower, and she’d crawl back into bed for a nap. She’d just punched half of the school’s number into the phone when the doorbell rang. Who could possible be here?

The walk to the door was a bit shaky, her body starting to come down from that morning’s slight panic. She stopped to catch her breath, hoping she didn’t look how she felt. That wasn’t the best way to answer the door. The doorbell rang again and Mary pulled the door open.

“Warren? What are you doing here?”

He looked her over, his gaze coming back to hers. “You look like crap.”

Mary frowned. “Then it matches how I feel. Why aren’t you at school?”

“Can I come in?”

Mary stepped back and watched him enter, closing the door behind him. He set his backpack down on the side table and turned to her. “Well?” she asked.

“Suzy called me this morning and said you weren’t feeling well. She asked me to come and look after you.”

“What?” Mary leaned against the wall as she felt her energy starting to leave her. “How does Suzy know your number? Did you skip school for me? You can’t just do that, Warren.”

“I can and I have.” He reached out and rested his hand against her forehead. Oh, that felt good. Mary closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. “You’re burning up. You should be in bed.”

“I know that.” She forced her eyes to open. “I can take care of myself, Warren. You didn’t need to-”

“I do,” he said, his fierce tone stopping her protests. “Aren’t you supposed to help a friend when they need it?”

“Does that include sickness?” Warren nodded and she sighed. She had a feeling that he wasn’t going to go away any time soon. “And what exactly do you intend to do?”

A small smile curled his lips. He knew he’d one this first round. “Go take a hot shower and change into something comfortable. Then make yourself comfortable on the couch. I’ll make you some tea.”

Mary shrugged slightly and started toward the stairs. She paused at the first step, though, and turned. Warren was grabbing his bag. “How does Suzy know your number?”

He blushed slightly and looked away, adjusting his hold on his bag. “She made me give it to her.”

Mary raised an eyebrow. “Forced you? How?”

“She.” He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. “She blackmailed me.”

Blackmail? That didn’t sound like Suzy. She usually… Mary smiled. “Did she threaten your cookie supply?” Warren’s jaw tightened. Mary laughed. “Suzy. The Cookie Mafia Boss. Oh, Warren, that’s great.” She sank onto the steps, her continuous laughter making her light headed. But she couldn’t stop. With a simple threat of not giving Warren any more cookies, her little sister had wrapped the pyro around her little finger. The image was too good not to laugh. Mary just wished it didn’t make her head spin.

Warmth spread across her left side and she opened her eyes. Warren had come to sit next to her at some point and was staring at her in concern. She didn’t like seeing that look on his face. He was too handsome for that furrowed brow. He should smile. She liked his smile. Mary leaned against him. She loved how he was always warm. It might be because he was a pyro, but there was a safety in his warmth that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since she’d had a normal life with her mom and dad.

Warren wrapped an arm around her back and under her knees, lifting her as if she weighted nothing. He was strong, too. How could he be so great? Mary snuggled closer to his chest, letting her eyes close. She’d close them for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone. I’d like to apologize for not getting this chapter up sooner, but I’ve been working on a very big project. I plan to have my first book finished and published (or at least publishable) by the end of this year. I’ll try to continue updating my stories for you all, but I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I hope you all had a wonderful ringing of the new year and you receive nothing but the best in the year to come.


	10. Chapter 10

“Mary. Wake up for a moment.”

She turned to the soothing timbre, smiling as she focused on his face. “Hmm?”

“You need to eat something.”

Mary rubbed her eyes and slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. When had she moved to the living room couch? Warren pushed a pillow behind her back and handed her a bowl of hot soup from a tray on the coffee table. She wrapped her hands around the ceramic, soaking in the heat. Why did her body feel so cold? Maybe the soup would warm her up.

Warren sat down by her feet, digging into his own bowl of soup. Mary watched him for a moment before eating her own food. He really shouldn’t have skipped school for her. She would have just gone to bed and slept until she felt better. There really wasn’t anything he could do about her immune system. But she did appreciate him caring enough to come.

"I let the school know you weren’t coming in today because you were sick,” Warren said, dunking a piece of bread into his soup. “I also asked Stronghold to grab our assignments so we wouldn’t fall behind.”

Mary blinked. “You talked to Will?”

Warren shrugged, focusing on his bread. “I would have Layla do it, but she’s focused on the student council campaign.”

“But you willingly called Will Stronghold up and asked him to get our homework.”

The pyro shrugged again. “Eat your soup.”

Mary smiled and set her bowl on the coffee table. Warren turned to her as she leaned across the couch, drawing closer to him. “You picked up the phone, dialed his number, and asked him to do something for you of your own free will. I’m guessing you didn’t even threaten him, did you?” Warren simply blinked slowly. “You’ve really changed since we first met.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That happens.” He gently pushed her back until she was leaning against her pillow. “You should put something in your stomach.”

Mary picked up her soup, digging in as her stomach rumbled. It was simple soup from a can, but it still warmed her inside. She traded her bowl for the cup of hot tea, bringing her knees up to her chest. Warren finished his food and stretched his arms above his head. Mary followed the movement, her eyes stopping on the bit of skin exposed on his side. So he was just as tan under his shirt. She slowly took a sip of her tea and instantly choked.

“What kind of tea is this?” she managed through her coughing. She set the cup down before she dumped it down her front.

Warren rubbed her back as she tried to calm down. “It’s a family remedy. It helps fight off sickness.”

“It’s awful.”

“Medicine usually is.” He picked up the tea and held it in front of her. “You have to finish all of it.”

“No way.” Mary scrambled away from him, but found the couch’s armrest pressed against her back. Warren followed her, pressing the cup against her lips. She pursed them together, turning her head away, but he gripped her chin and turned her head back. Her lips parted enough for him to pour the rest of the tea in, the foul concoction flowing down her throat and settling in her stomach. Once the tea was all gone, he took the cup away.

“Ugh.” Mary wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “What the heck, Warren? You can’t just force someone to drink something like that.”

He set the cup on the coffee table. “You’ll thank me when you get better.” He turned back to her and rested his hand against her forehead. Mary blushed at having him so close, practically leaning over her, but he simply moved away with a slight shake of his head. “You’re still warm,” he said as he collected the dishes.

Mary watched him for a moment. He seemed so relaxed and that made her smile. She always wanted people to feel welcomed in her home, but Warren was a special case. She wanted his approval more than the others. It was probably because she liked him beyond friendship. Her cheeks grew warmer. Warren gave her a questioning look.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” she said quickly. “Just a little tired.”

“The tea will do that. Just lay down and get some sleep.”

Mary stretched out on the couch and fluffed the pillow under her head. She paused when Warren covered her with the blanket. Even though she’d used the excuse of being tired to cover her staring, Mary soon found herself drifting back to sleep.

An unfamiliar voice crept into her dreams. A woman’s voice, it seemed. Mary shifted, slowly dragging her eyes open. It took a moment for her to focus, but she found herself staring up at a stranger. The woman was slim, dressed in a set of blue scrubs with long red hair pulled into a ponytail away from her cheerful face. She looked familiar somehow.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

Mary rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Tired. A little stiff, but better. Who are you?”

“I’m Zoey Peace; Warren’s mom. I just came by to drop off some clothes and thought I’d give you a quick check. Don’t worry, dear. I’m a doctor. How long have you been feeling like this?”

“Since yesterday.” Mary pushed herself into a sitting position and spotted Warren standing at the foot of the couch. “I’m fine. Really.”

“She wasn’t feeling well at lunch yesterday. She picked at her food, was unfocused in class, and even dozed off a time or two.”

Mrs. Peace turned to her son with a knowing smile. “You noticed all that, did you?” Warren blushed slightly. His mom turned back to Mary. “Open your mouth, please.”

Mrs. Peace slipped a thermometer past Mary’s lips and checked her pulse. After a few moments, she took the thermometer and studied the numbers. She placed it in a medical bag on the coffee table. “Have you been physically sick?”

“No.”

“She’s kept everything down,” Warren added.

“What did you have today?”

Mary leaned back against the pillows. “Orange juice and oatmeal my siblings left me this morning and the soup and tea Warren made me for lunch. The rest of the time, I’ve been sleeping.”

Mrs. Peace nodded, deep in thought. “Well, it seems you don’t have a cold.”

“I don’t?”

“No. Although it always shows as if it’s a cold or the flu, the fact of the matter is your powers are developing.”

“What? My powers?” Was this because she had been hit with the Pacifier?

Mrs. Peace smiled as she closed her medical bag. “Don’t worry about it, dear. It happens to a lot of Supers. When their powers develop or they get new ones, their bodies have to adapt to the change. It’s not harmful but can be very inconvenient. You’ll be right as rain in a day or two.”

Mary slowly nodded. Warren moved, catching her attention. His fingers were curling into the back of the couch as he kept his focus on his mother. Was he concerned for her? It was odd to be worried about like this. She blinked when she realized Mrs. Peace had addressed her.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

The woman chuckled. “No problem, dear. I’m just telling you that you should come over with the twins for dinner some night. Warren’s told me so much about you and I’d love to have you over.”

“Warren…talks about me?” She looked up at him.

Warren blushed slightly, frowning at the woman. “Mom. You can go, now.”

The woman grinned at her son. “I just want to get to know your friend, dear.”

“Don’t you have to get to work?”

Mary piped up. “Are you a nurse?”

“Night shift at Maxville General. You know, you are just so cute. Warren’s descriptions don’t do you justice.”

“Mom!”

Mary smiled slightly. She hadn’t seen Warren this flustered before. It was kind of cute. “I didn’t know he talked about me so much.”

“Oh, he does. I feel like I’ve known you and the twins forever.” Mrs. Peace’s smile softened. “I remember your mother, too. She was a really wonderful woman. Barron tells me you visit all the time. Will you tell her I say hello next time you see her?”

Mary nodded.

“All right. I’ll just let you two go. You don’t mind Warren staying the night, do you?” Mary shook her head. “Good. He’ll keep an eye on you, if you don’t mind. Well, I’ll let you two go, then. Have fun. Don’t do anything too scandalous.” Mrs. Peace kissed Warren’s forehead and left with her bag and purse, closing the door behind her.

Warren shook his head. “I am so sorry about her.”

Mary turned to him with grin. “I think she’s nice.” She pulled her feet up to make room on the couch for him. “You had planned on staying the night?”

He blushed a little more as he sat in the empty spot. “Well, I thought you might still need some looking after, so I asked my mom to bring some clothes over. She just added the check up.” He hesitated in looking at her. “Do you mind?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. The twins will love having you here, too.” She looked at the TV and tossed Warren the remote. “Might as well put something on. You choose.”

They ended up watching a movie marathon that was on one of the channels. A few were old black and white films. Warren eventually made some popcorn and brought over some soda. They were just finishing _Casablanca_ when the door opened and the twins ran in, followed by the gang.

“Mary!” Randy climbed up next to her. “You ok?”

She smiled, ruffling her hair. “Much better.”

“Did you like the food we left you?”

Mary nodded. “It was very good. Thank you.” There was no way she was telling him it had left a strange aftertaste that only Warren’s tea could wash away. She looked up and saw Mary climbing into Warren’s lap, grabbing some popcorn. Will and the gang took their seats on the floor with amused smirks. Some of them were smart enough to hide them but Warren still glared at them.

“Hey, girl,” Zach said. He dropped down next to the coffee table and opened his backpack. “I brought you some junk food to ease the pain.”

Mary grinned, grabbing a bag of chips he’d dumped on the table. She popped a few into her mouth and leaned against the couch cushions. “What did I miss?”

Zach laughed. “Girl, Layla’s been all over the school getting votes for the student council slot. I didn’t think she was every going to stop.”

“I have to act fast,” Layla said, chewing on a corn chip. “It’s sort of an emergency election so everything’s been moved up. Elections are in two days.”

“What is Layla doing?” Randy asked, taking a chip from Mary’s bag as he climbed into her lap.

The girl turned her smile to him. “Since Gwen is in prison, the next person in line has to step up. That means, with the way the council is at the moment, everyone moves up a slot. The freshman representative position is open. I’m running for student council.”

Randy finished his chip. “Oh.” He reached into the bag again.

Will set a pile of books and papers on the coffee table. “This is all of the assignments for today and tomorrow.”

Mary frowned at the pile. She knew she had to stay on top of her assignments, but she just couldn’t find the energy to tackle the pile. Good thing her friends were here. She’d just use them as an excuse to put homework off.

Layla put a different pile on next to the first. “This is Warren’s.” It was just as big as hers. Warren frowned at it, probably weighting the pros and cons of setting it on fire.

“Don’t worry,” Ethan said, pulling things out of his book bag. “We’ll study with you. It helps pass the time.”

Mary and Randy opened their bags and pulled out their own homework. Theirs was significantly simpler than the teenagers, but no one pointed that out.

“I’ll get us something to drink, then,” Layla said, standing up and leaving. Mary hoped there were enough drinks for everyone in the fridge. She needed to get to the store soon. A quick glance at the clock on the TV said it would soon be time to start dinner. She couldn’t very well cook anything for everyone with the small amount of things in her fridge, even if she wasn’t sick.

“Dude, let’s order pizza and have a study party,” Zack said.

“We’d hardly get any studying done if it’s a party,” Magenta pointed out.

“Pizza!” Suzy and Randy said at the same time.

Zack grinned. “The Mini Lambs are on my side. Pizza it is.”

Suzy climbed down from Warren’s lap and hurried to a writing desk in the corner. “Dad leaves us some extra money for take out.”

Randy smiled. “We should have enough for a few pizzas.” He looked up at Marry. “Right?”

She smiled back and smoothed his hair down. “Sure. Whatever everyone wants.”

“Sweet.” Zack picked up the phone and started to dial.

“Extra cheese,” Ethan said.

“Meat lovers,” Will chimed up. “Got to have meat lovers”

“No way. Make it a supreme. That’s got everything,” Magenta said.

“We don’t need everything,” Ethan said.

“Cheese is on every pizza. It’s literally a base on the entire thing.”

“We can ask for extra cheese, but we need something else on it.” Will turned to Warren and Mary. “Back me up, guys.”

Warren was stunnd for a moment but managed an answer. “Meat lovers.”

“That’s my vote, too,” Mary said.

Layla returned with soda and reminded him to get one with veggies.

“Ok, how about this,” Zack said. “We get large pizzas; one meat lovers, one extra cheese and one that’s half supreme/half veggies.” Everyone nodded at that.

“Yuck.” Randy made a face as Zack started ordering to the person on the other end. “Veggies on pizza.”

“Veggies are good for you,” Layla said.

“They’re yucky.”

“You like it when Mary makes you veggies.”

“But that’s because she puts cheese and other good things on it.”

“Well, there will be cheese on a veggie pizza.”

“Veggies do not belong on pizzas.”

Mary chuckled. “Why don’t you try a bite when it comes and see if you still don’t like it. If you don’t, I’ll eat it.” Randy thought about that for a moment and nodded as if he’d made the decision himself.

“Dudes,” Zack said as he hung up the phone. “Food should be here in half an hour. How about a movie in the meantime?”

“Are we supposed to be studying?” Will asked in amusement.

Mary laughed. “It’s funny you think that’s what would happen tonight.”

“Hey, it’s studying if it’s a superhero movie, right?” Zack grinned at his clever idea and started flipping through the channels.

Conversations started up with the others. Mary glanced at Warren and noticed that he was a mix between tense and relaxed; as if he didn’t know which one he should be. Randy slipped out of her lap and leaned over Ethan’s shoulder to look at something in a book. Mary scooted closer to Warren and lowered her voice as she switched to French. “You doing all right?”

He nodded. “Just getting used to others around.”

“They’re harmless.” She looked over their group and watched for a moment as Will and Zack lightly grappled over the last bag of Doritos. “Well, mostly.”

Warren’s lips twitched for a moment. “This…is new for me. Having…friends.”

“How does it feel?”

He turned his head so he was looking directly at her. His lips turned up into that dazzling smile that never failed to make her heart beat louder and faster. “Pretty good.” Mary couldn’t help but grin back.

“Oh, sweet!” Zack said, breaking into their shared moment. They turned to the TV. “There’s an ‘Adventures of Tiger Man’ marathon.”

“I love him,” Suzy and Randy said, finding new seats beside Ethan.

Mary leaned back in the couch, her shoulder resting against Warren’s, and joined the others as they watched the screen. Warren was right; it was good to have friends. Having them here made her feel ten times better and the place less empty. But it was kind of funny. When it had just been her and Warren, she hadn’t felt lonely at all. He seemed to fit in here better than she thought.

The pizza arrived, the twins brought down pillows and blankets, and a few pillow forts were instantly created. It went without saying that their study party never actually opened their books or glanced at an assignment. They watched the marathon until the early hours of the morning and, because they’d all called their parents to let them know what they were doing, they fell asleep where they were. If Mary ended up using Warren as a pillow, his arms holding her in place against his chest, no one pointed it out.


	11. Chapter 11

Mary rubbed her eyes, tilting her head against the back of the couch. She’d tried to focus on her homework but the words kept shifting on the pages. Nothing seemed to be staying in focus this morning. Sure, the craziness of everyone waking up and getting ready for school had yanked her from deep sleep, disorienting her for a while, but that should have passed some time ago. Instead, her vision blurred and her eyes ached whenever she opened them.

            “Here,” Warren said, placing a cool damp cloth over her eyes. She sighed as the aching eased a bit. “I’ll get you some tea.”

            “You want to make me feel worse?” She could hear his smirk as he left the room. “No tea, Warren. I mean it.”

            “The tea is good for you,” he called from the kitchen.

            “Could you at least put something in it so it tastes better?”

            “If I do, it won’t work right.” He lifted the cloth off her eyes and pressed the hot mug into her hands. Mary glared at it. Warren sat next to her on the couch, setting a plate of Suzy’s homemade cookies on the coffee table. He held one of them up, turning to face her. “You finish the tea and you get a cookie.”

            She raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? That’s you’re plan?”

            “It is if it works.”

            Mary looked at the cookie and then down at the mug. Her face twisted for a moment but she chugged the whole thing in a few swallows. She cringed at the taste and snatched the cookie from Warren’s hand, finishing that in two bites. “No offense,” she said, brushing the crumbs off the blanket covering her lap, “but your remedy-”

            “Tastes awful. I know. You’ve said that.” Warren rested the back of his hand against her forehead. “Your fever is down. That’s good.”

            Mary nodded and rubbed her eyes as they began to ache again. “Do you have that cloth?”

            “Tilt your head back.” She did as Warren asked and smiled as he settled the cloth over her eyes. “Do they still hurt?”

            “A little.” She turned her head towards him slightly. “Thanks for helping this morning. I can usually get the twins out the door pretty quickly. Just not today.”

            “I didn’t mind. It was an experience.”

            Mary chuckled slightly. “It’s significantly easier when it’s just the twins and not the entire group.” They let a comfortable silence fall between them for a while. After a bit, Mary sat up, reaching for the cloth. “Warren, thank you for- oh, my god!” She’d taken off the cloth and turned to her friend, only to find him sitting naked on the couch. “What the hell!”

            “What?” Warren’s brow furrowed in confusion as Mary turned her head away.

            “What do you mean ‘what’? You’re sitting naked on my couch! Why? How did you even get undressed without making a noise?”

            “Mary, I’m not naked.”

            “You are so very much naked.”

            Warren shifted closer. Mary leaned a little bit away from his advancement. “Mary, look at me.” She turned her head away even more. Warren placed a hand on her knee. “Look at me.”

            Slowly, she looked back at him and blinked. “What happened to your clothes?” Warren was dressed once more. She reached out, her fingertips running over the fabric. It was very much real. “What just happened?” Had she been hallucinating? She knew she was sick but not that sick.

            “What did you see? Exactly?”

            Mary licked her dry lips. “You were sitting there but completely naked. I mean…” She stopped and swallowed hard, forcing herself to keep her attention on his face. Just the memory of his sculpted chest and abs was enough make her face turn red. “Was I just seeing things? Is that possible with an illness like this? Maybe we should call your mom?”

            Warren stared, studying her closely. A few tense moments passed. Finally, he said, “I think it’s a new power.”

            “So seeing people naked is a power? Great.”

            Warren looked around and nodded towards the TV. “Tell me what you see.”

            Mary blinked at him but looked anyway. “It looks like any kind of TV. A screen, a frame…” Her mouth fell open as the screen wavered and fell away to show the wires and inner workings. “No. Way. I can see the inside. How-”

            “Your powers are creating force fields. I think your powers have mutated so you can bend the light around objects to see through them.”

            Mary looked back at Warren, her eyes widening. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

            He shrugged. “I wanted to be a doctor once.” He tilted his head slightly. “That might be why your eyes are hurting. They’re getting used to the new power.”

            “Well, I wish it would give some sort of warning. Not that you’re not ripped and super hot, but I did not need the shock of seeing you naked.” Mary stopped and a flush rose up her neck and over her face. “No. What I mean is- uh, you know, that it was- um- Oh, boy.” Warren smirked as she tried to backtrack. She dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “Could you forget I said that?”

            “Hey,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “People say weird stuff when they’re sick.”

            Mary looked between her fingers at him and smiled. “Thank you.” She dropped her hands and sat up straighter. “So, I can see through things, huh? I guess that could be useful. Once I get the hang of it, of course.”

            Warren chuckled and picked up the dishes. “Anything from the kitchen?”

            She shook her head. Her gaze fell on the textbooks and she sighed. There was no way she’d be able to study with her eyes tricking her. She leaned over and flipped the books shut, stacking her homework off to the side. Warren was almost done with his work. She’d watched him for a while, impressed with how fast he’d managed to get through it all. He was smarter than what a lot of people gave him credit for.

            Warren came back with two cups of hot tea. Mary frowned at the offered mug. “It’s just regular tea.”

            She took the mug and set it on the table. The corner of his lips twitched at her caution. He leaned back against the couch cushions and took a slow leisurely sip of his own tea, purposefully keeping his gaze locked with hers. After a moment, he lowered the mug with a smile. Her eyes slid to her own mug. Even Warren couldn’t hide a cringe from the awful tea. This must not be it, then.

            She reached for the mug. Her hand knocked the side, spilling a bit of the hot liquid onto the back of her hand. She drew back sharply, hissing and pressing her hand to her chest.

            “Are you okay?” Warren asked, taking her hand and looking it over.

            Mary blinked, staring at her skin in surprise. “That hurt.”

            “It was hot but not much got on you. I could get some ice if you want.”

            “It hurt.” She looked up at Warren. “It hurt.” His brows furrowed in confusion. “I felt pain. I couldn’t do that before.”

            Warren looked at her hand for a long moment and then back up to her. “You gain a new power but lose a different one. It could be that, when you were changed back from a baby, your powers changed. That’s why you got sick and why your powers changed.”

            Mary sighed. “Great. I liked that power.” She took her hand from his, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. “So,” she said, looking at her companion. “You want to be a doctor.”

            “I did.”

            “What changed?”

            “I found I didn’t like being around sick people.”

            A snort escaped her and she covered her mouth as she continued to laugh. “Really?”

            Warren smiled. “No. I liked reading about medicine but wasn’t too thrilled with actually practicing it.”

            “So what are you planning on doing after you graduate?”

            He shifted in his seat, pushing his hair out of his face. His eyes didn’t meet hers as he mumbled something. Mary leaned in closer, raising an eyebrow at him. He sighed and spoke a little bit louder. “Acting.”

            “Stage, TV, or movies?”

            Warren stared at her. Clearly, no one had taken his choice seriously. Maybe no one had ever bothered to ask him. “Um…I was thinking about movies.”

            “Any kind of specialty? Musicals, drama, comedy?” She smiled slightly. “Rom-coms?”

            He chuckled and relaxed into his seat. “Musicals. But I could do well in dramas. I’m pretty sure I could land any villainous role.”

            “Do you want to play the villain?”

            “I don’t mind in movies or plays. It’s acting. I’m just don’t like being seen as a villain in real life.”

            Mary watched the hurt and pain pass through his eyes. She could understand his reasoning. An actor was supposed to play a character. It didn’t reflect the real person. But parentage followed a kid for the rest of their life. She and Warren would be living down their parents for the rest of their lives. She shook those thoughts away and leaned closer. “What’s your dream role?”

            Warren grinned. “Athos from _The Three Musketeers_.”

            “I love that story. Can I see you act him?”

            He flushed slightly and reached for his mug. “You should probably get some sleep.”

            “Oh, please, Warren. I’m sick. This would make me feel better.”

            “It would not.”

            “It might. I want to see your work.” She crossed her legs under her. “You’ll have to get used to it if you really want to act.”

            Warren was quiet for a moment. She could practically see his mind turning. This was new to him; encouraging friends with whom he could relax around and be himself. He’d said as much multiple times. She was glad he considered her close enough to confide more about himself. If she hadn’t of had her friends in France or the twins, Mary suspected that she may very well have become as closed off as Warren had been before they’d become friends.

            The pyro leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. He loosely linked his fingers together. “To love. Let me tell you a story about love, D’Artagnan. I knew a young man once, a count, who feared he would never fall in love. One day, he met a woman. This woman was more than beautiful. She was intoxicating, mysterious, everthing he’d ever dreamed of. He felt his heart would burst if he couldn’t have her. The poor idiot married her.” Warren shook his head as if someone had spoken. “Shut up and listen to me. They were riding through the forest one day. She was thrown from her hore and knocked unconscious. When he rushed to her side, he noticed a mark on her body…something he’d never seen before, something she’d managed to keep hidden all this time. The brand of the fleur-de-lis, the mark given to those who are to be executed for murder. The count was crushed. The woman he loved, his bride, had betrayed him. she’d lied to him. When she came to, she swore that she’d been falsely accused of these crimes, but he didn’t believe her; he rejcted her for her lies and for her past. Then he banished her from his province. When the guards came to take her away to be executed, she…she was still professing her undying love. Soon after, the Count realized how much she had meant to him, but it was too late. His betrayal was far greater than hers could ever have been. He gave up his title, his land, everything he believed in, never to be seen or heard from again, all because of love.” Warren reached for his mug of tea and took a large swallow as if to drown his sorrows. Mary stared. It was like he was a different person. He was no longer Warren, the pyro emo slowly coming to trust his new friends. This was Athos, a man who had suffered the betrayal of the love of his life and couldn’t even stand to look at himself anymore. He was so real.

Warren finished and turned to her. “W-what do you think?”

She continued to stare, completely floored. “You’re amazing.”

“You’re just saying that.”

            “I don’t think I’ve loved the character more. It was like Athos was really here.” Warren blushed as he saw the seriousness in her eyes. “You should try out for the school’s play.”

            He shook his head. “I don’t think so-”

            “But I think so. I think you’d be great and it’s something you actually want to do, right? So do it.” Mary placed her hand over his. “I’m behind you 100 percent.”

            Warren turned his hand over so he held hers. His warmth felt nice against her skin. “I got lucky with a friend like you.” His dark eyes met hers and she felt her whole body grow warm. Why did he have to look at her like that? It made her heart skip in her chest and her stomach flutter. Did he know how he affected her?

            She squeezed his hand and shifted on the couch, pushing her reactions out of the way. “What’s the school’s play?”

            “ _Beauty and the Beast_.”

            “Are you going to try for the Beast or the Prince?”

            “They’ll never give me the Beast role. That’ll go to some popular kid. Maybe Will.”

            Mary laughed. “Will is an awful actor. He can’t even lie convincingly. He doesn’t like acting, anyway. At best, he’d probably be the Prince at the end of the play after the Beast transforms.”

            “Still-”

            “Well, you’re popular now, you know. You definitely have the female student body’s attention.” And didn’t she just hate that. “By your logic, you’ll have a pretty good shot of getting the Beast role. If you can sing, of course. It is a musical.”

            “I can sing.”

            “Good. Let me hear ‘Be our guest’. They’ll probably want you to audition with that. Oh, come on,” she added when she saw Warren start to look unsure, “think of this as a chance to practice.”

            After a moment’s pause, Warren stood. She missed the warmth of his hand around hers but she smiled and watched him as he slowly grew more confident in his performance. He had a wonderful voice. Along with his good looks, dazzling smile, and his actions at the Homecoming dance, it was no surprise the rest of the girls at school had started noticing him.

            For the next hour, Warren went through his audition pieces while Mary watched and gave him feedback. The more they worked, the more Warren relaxed and started to enjoy himself. She liked seeing him this way. He was lighter and happier. He smiled easier.

            Mary laughed at Warren’s outlandish Cogsworth impersonation when the front door opened. The twins appeared first, followed by the gang. Warren stopped as everyone settled around the coffee table like they had yesterday.

            “What’s up, my main Lamb?” Zach asked, extending his fist.

            Mary bumped hers against his and wrapped her arms around Suzy as she climbed into her lap. “Not much. I have a new power, I can now feel pain, and Warren’s going to try out for the school play.”

            There were mixed reactions to the news.

            “You have a new power?” That was Randy, Suzy, and Zach.

            “You can feel pain?” That was Will, Layla, and Ethan.

            “Warren’s going to try for the musical?” That was Magenta. She gave the pyro a curious raised eyebrow, which he decided not to notice.

            “I can see through things but I can feel pain. I’m not really looking forward to getting used to that. And I’ve been helping Warren with his audition piece.” Mary noticed Warren start to close up again and gave him an encouraging smile. “He’s very good and I’m excited to see him perform on stage.”

            “Wasn’t your dad in _Oklahoma_?” Will asked.

            Warren nodded. “He…met my mom that way. She was part of the stage crew.”

            “What’s the play?” Randy asked.

            “ _Beauty and the Beast_.”

            “Mary should try for the part of Belle!” Suzy piped up, turning to her sister energetically.

            “Except she can’t sing really well,” Randy said. Mary turned to her brother and he shrugged. “I’ve heard you in the shower.”

            “No one sounds good in the shower.”

            “I think it’s about half and half on that,” Will said.

            Suzy nodded. “Mary would be great for the role.”

            “If Mary was interested,” Mary said. “My talent lies behind a camera lens. I’ll take pictures and support Warren, but I’m not going to act.” She looked up at Warren. “When are auditions?”

            “Friday after school.”

            “So you have two more days to get ready. Great. Plenty of time to practice.”

            “But how about some food first?” Zach asked.

            “Are you always thinking of your stomach?” Will asked.

            “I’m a growing boy.”

            Mary rolled her eyes as the others tried to decide what they wanted for dinner. “Shouldn’t you guys go home? Your parents haven’t seen you in a while.”

            “They know we’re here,” Layla said. “They understand that we’re trying to cheer up a sick friend.”

            “Plus we’re helping you look after the twins,” Zach said with a smile.

            “More like we’re looking after him,” Suzy said.

            “Oh, little Lamb! I’m hurt. Truly.” He pressed a hand to his chest as he turned to Magenta. “Did you hear what she said?”

            “Yeah. She’s not wrong.”

            Zach plopped back onto the floor, his arms spread out wide. “First little Lamb and now my girlfriend. What’s a man to do?”

            “Wait, girlfriend?” Mary perked up. “You two are dating?”

            Magenta blushed and Zach popped back up with a grin. “Yup. Official for two days.”

            Layla grinned. “That’s great! Now we can double date!”

            Mary laughed as her hippie friend tightly hugged her emo friend. Just like she and Warren had predicted at the dance, their friends would pair off. The only ones left were Ethan, her, and Warren. She looked to the pyro and found he’d retaken his set on the couch. Randy was telling him about a new trick he was trying to do with his fire powers. Warren was listening to everything the little boy said, nodding and adding to the conversation when needed. She had no idea if she and Warren could be good together-she’d like to think that they would- but she wasn’t willing to risk their friendship over it. They’d only just gotten close. It was best not to stir anything up. Warren looked up and met her gaze, giving one of his dazzling smiles. She returned it easily. Yes, they were good for now.

            Will stretched, cracking his shoulders and back. “So,” he asked. “Dinner. Anyone have ideas?”

            “I’m game for anything,” Will said. Zach nodded in agreement.

            “Pizza!” Randy cheered.

            “We had pizza last night,” Suzy said. “We should have Italian.”

            “What about Chinese?” Ethan asked.

            “Sandwiches?” Layla suggested.

            “What about burgers?” Mary asked. “I could really go for a burger.”

            “Second on that,” Warren said.

Will stood and grabbed his wallet. “I’ll go grab us some.”

“Take the boys with you. You’ll need the extra hands for all the meals,” Layla said.

“We should probably drop off our library books, too,” Randy said. “I’ll get them.” He jumped off the couch and hurried upstairs.

Mary chuckled. “It seems you’re on an outing, then.”

Warren rolled his eyes and stood. “What do you want for a drink?”

“A Coke if they have any, but a Sprite if not.”

He nodded and, when Randy hurried back down with the bag of books, took the little boy’s hand. Suzy quickly grabbed Warren’s other hand. “We’ll be back.”

Magenta and Layla turned to Mary with terrifyingly close scrutinization once the boys had left. “So,” Layla said with a knowing smile. “You and Warren seem to be getting very chummy.”

“I bet he’s just so attentive, looking after you when you’re sick,” Magenta added.

Mary blushed. “We’re just friends.” The girls looked as if they didn’t believe her. “Really. We’re not ready to move into anything past that just yet. And I don’t even know if he’d like me that way. It’s best if we just stay as friends for now and see where this goes.”

Both girls stared at her. “Wow,” Magenta said. “You’ve really thought about this a lot.”

Mary shrugged. “I’ve had time and, with him being here, it’s not easy to keep a straight thought sometimes. But it’s the logical choice. I don’t want to mess something up that has done the twins and me a world of good. Warren means too much to me.”

Layla smiled softly. “I’m one to believe that you should follow your heart, but that’s sound thinking. I can’t really argue with it. Not when I know you as I do. Though I can’t say much on Warren’s part; we’ve only just become friends.”

“Yeah,” Magenta said. “The Warren we saw yesterday and today is totally different to the one he was before Homecoming. It’s weird.”

“But nice, too,” Mary said with a slight smile.

Layla leaned back on her hands as she watched her friend. “You really like him.” Mary nodded. Layla sighed and pushed herself to her feet. “Well, the boys won’t be back for a while, so how about a quick make over? I promise you’ll feel a lot better. We might even get a reaction out of Warren.” She winked and grabbed Mary’s hands, pulling her to her feet. Magenta grinned as she followed the girls to the upstairs bathroom.


	12. Chapter 12

Magenta pulled a long black jacket out of Mary’s closet. “This is so cool.”

            Mary turned her head a little to look at the garment, making sure she wasn’t interfering with Layla’s work on her hair. “That’s one of Stephen’s. Made it for his sister but she’d moved on to a different look.”

            “This one?” Magenta held up a green pleated miniskirt with crossing leather belts.

            “Part of a combo piece between Pierre and Claude for a class. Pierre did the skirt and Claude did the top that’s on the next hanger. If you add those high healed boots, it’s a great outfit for a party.”

            Magenta pulled out a dark green croptop tanktop with long sheer sleeves. “They gave this to you?”

            “When we were set to leave France, a lot of my designer friends gave me the clothes they made during so I would have something from them.” Mary smiled at the shirt. “That one has always been my favorite.”

            Magenta raised an interested eyebrow. “I hear a story behind that.”

            Mary chuckled fondly. “Oh, there is.” When Magenta continued to stare, Mary continued. “I was…very different in France. I still took care of the twins, of course, but when they were with a nanny or babysitter and I was with my friends…I rebelled. A lot.” She pointed at the top. “I wore that to a David Guetta concert. Leslie had managed to get tickets from some kind of give away. Loud music, great friends, and a feeling that anything could happen.” A pause filled the bedroom and Mary fondly shook her head at the memory. “Magenta, if you want to borrow some of my clothes, I don’t mind. I’ll even take a few pictures and send them to the designers. They’ll love to know people like them.”

            Magenta’s eyes widened. “Really? You don’t mind?”

            “Not at all. Help yourself.”

            The goth girl returned to the closet with glee in her eyes. Layla chuckled from behind Mary. “I think you just made her night.”

            Mary smiled and held still as Layla secured the bottom of the braid she’d been working on. The red head looked at some of the clothes Magenta was pulling out of the closet. “You should wear more of those. I think you’d look pretty cool. Probably become popular.”

            Mary shook her head. “I get enough attention as it is, being Nightmare’s kid and all. But I have a few pictures of when I modeled them.”

            “Oh, I want to see.”

            “They’re downstairs.” Mary stood up and made her way to the living room, her friends trailing behind. She pulled out a brown photo album, setting it on the table.

Layla opened it and her eyes widened. “This is you?”

Magenta looked over the girl’s shoulder. “Wow. You’re like a different person.”

A series of photos were carefully placed in the photo album, all quality work. Mary was dressed in a variety of clothes from punk rocker to elegant lady. In each shot, she posed effortlessly with make up and hair done almost perfectly.

Layla turned the page. “You could be a model.”

Mary shrugged. “I had a few offers but I prefer the other side of the lens. Besides, the life of a model doesn’t lend a lot of time to look after the twins.”

Layla turned the page. The pictures here were of other teens. Some were professional shots of beautiful models, both male and female. Others were candid pictures of the same teens laughing around café tables, at concerts, over a few opened books, and various other scenarios friends found themselves in. Mary was in a few of them looking as if there weren’t a care in the world.

“These your French friends?” Magenta asked.

Mary nodded, pointing to a picture of her in the middle of five other teens that were featured heavily in the other photos. “This is Pierre, Michelle, Claude, Isabel, and Louis. They were my closest friends. Pierre, Claude, and Michelle were designers. Isabel and Louis showcased most of their clothes.”

“They’re hot,” Magenta said, gesturing to the boys.

Layla raised an eyebrow. “What about your boyfriend?”

Magenta shrugged. “I can still look and appreciate a nice looking guy that isn’t Zach.” She pointed to a beach shot with the boys flexing without shirts. “Just like you can appreciate a nice pair of abs.”

Mary chuckled. “Pierre and Louis spend a lot of time in the gym to get those abs. They’re impressive but I like Warren’s better.” She paused as she realized what she said. When she raised her eyes, she found her friends staring at her with knowing grins.

“And when did you have a chance to see Warren’s abs?” Magenta asked. “What kind of attention has he been giving you?”

The heat rose in Mary’s cheeks. “It’s not like that! It-it’s my new power. It bends light so I can see through things and…” Her voice lowered in embarrassment. “I saw through his clothes.”

Layla’s mouth fell open as Magenta laughed. “You saw him naked?!”

“It was an accident! I didn’t know I could do that.”

“So,” Magenta asked with a glint in her eye. “How big is he?”

“Magenta!” Layla said as Mary’s face turned even redder.

“What? Weren’t you thinking it, too?”

“What’s going on?” Will asked as he rounded the corner with bags of take out.

Warren followed after, Suzy resting on his hip as Randy hung on his back. He didn’t seem to be weighed down by them in the slightest. Layla and Magenta stared. “What?”

The girls laughed as Mary buried her red face in a pillow from the couch.

“They’re weird,” Randy said as he slipped off Warren’s back. Suzy nodded in agreement and Warren set her down so she could take a bag from Ethan.

The pyro knelt down next to Mary and took the pillow from her hands, revealing her red face. He pressed a hand to her forehead. She felt her skin warm under his touch. “Is your fever back? Should I get you some tea?”

Mary frowned. “You bring that foul stuff near me again and I’ll spit it back in your face.”

Warren’s lips twitched but he nodded and handed her a take out cup filled with Coke. She took a long sip from the straw but darted her gaze away as the previous conversation played in her mind again and she remembered how very well built Warren was under his clothes. She didn’t think she’d be able to look at him properly for a while.

“Hey,” Ethan said, picking up the album forgotten on the table. “Are these your friends from France?” Mary nodded. “You look pretty happy with them.”

A soft smile lifted Mary’s lips. “We had some great times together.” She laughed. “Michelle’s the wildest one. You know, she convinced me to do a lot of things I never thought I’d do.”

“Like what?” Ethan asked.

“Like getting blue streaks in your hair?” Magenta said, noticing the faded color.

“Yeah.” Mary looked at one of the photos where they were all smiling. She was wearing the same shirt Magenta had pulled from her closet earlier. The others were wearing punk like clothes, as well. “This was taken a few months before I left France. We’d just left the concert and didn’t want to go home, so Michelle took us to a party one of her friends was holding. It was amazing. By the end of the night, I was tired, hoarse from singing, and sporting a fresh tattoo.”

“A tattoo?” Layla said, eyes wide. Warren looked up from the food he’d been pulling from the bags, interest showing in his eyes. Mary’s eyes fell to the flame tattoos on his forearms.

Magenta grinned. “Nice. Where is it?”

Mary hooked a finger into the collar of her tank top and pulled it low enough to reveal the soft curls of lettering that spelled ‘Belle Âme’ in blank ink over her heart. “It means ‘beautiful soul’,” she explained. “Louis thought it was appropriate.” The other stared, which she didn’t mind. It was Warren’s intent gaze, however, that made her heart race and her cheeks grow red. She dropped her hand, letting her top settle back into place to cover the ink.

“Are these you?”

Mary looked over at Will, noticing the album in his hands. He’d turned back to her model pictures. “Um, yeah.”

Suzy nodded as Randy pulled his food from the bags. “These look like the pictures they sold at your old school, Mary.”

“Huh?” Zach tilted his head to the side. “Your school sold pictures of you? That’s a bit creepy.”

“If you’ll remember, my old school was an artistic school. We had painters, fashion designers, models, and others like that. Much of our funds came from showcasing our talents and allowing the school to sell them.” Mary waved to the pictures. “I mostly worked behind the camera but was asked to model a time or two. Those are ones they sold when other models didn’t have anything new out.”

“Strange school,” Will said, flipping the pages again.

“Yes, because a school floating in the sky meant to train young teens to control superpowers isn’t strange,” Mary said with a slight smile. Warren handed her a burger, a serving of fries, and a Coke. She unwrapped the burger and sank her teeth into the bun, moaning as the hot meat and flavorful toppings filled her mouth. “Oh, god. I really needed that.” She took another bite, licking a drop of ketchup from the corner of her mouth.

The rest of the food was passed out. Suzy reached into a different bag and pulled out a few movies. “We found a few things at the library. Do you want to see _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ , _Shrek_ , _Treasure Planet_ , or _Howl’s Moving Castle_?”

Mary picked up the last movie and turned it over, scanning the back. “I’ve heard of this one. It’s supposed to be good. But I’m no sure if it’s appropriate for you and Randy.”

“They’ll be fine,” Zach said, popping a milkshake dipped fry into his mouth. “Can’t be worse than what they see on the news.”

“If it gets too intense, we’ll switch to something else,” Will said.

Randy took the movie and popped it into the player. He returned to Mary’s side but Warren was already sitting there, his back resting against the couch. The little boy frowned but Warren patted his lap. Randy smiled and climbed into the teen’s lap, picking up his fries as he settled himself. Warren picked up his drink and caught Mary looking at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said softly as the movie started up. “It just amazes me how well you get along with the twins.”

“They’re good kids. Makes it easy.”

Mary chuckled. Suzy shushed her before turning back to the screen. Warren offered an onion ring, which Mary happily took. They turned back to the movie. It wasn’t as bad as Mary had thought and the twins seemed to enjoy it to no end. She made a mental note to pick it up for a Christmas gift.

“That was awesome!” Zach said as the credits started to roll. He stood up and took the movie out of the player, ready to put in the next one.

“I want a castle like that,” Suzy said. “Do you think there could actually be one out there?”

“Of course, Little Lamb,” Zach said. “We’ll find it and make it our new secret lair. No villain will ever find us.”

Mary chuckled at the childish excitement in her friend. No wonder Zach got along with the twins; he was practically their maturity equal.

As the others got up to throw trash away and refresh their drinks for the next movie, Randy pulled his book bag into his lap. He reached into it and pulled out a stapled pile of papers. Mary looked at them as he put them in her hand.

“Extra curricular activities for school,” she mused. The list of possible sign-ups spanned two pages, the third being the official sign-up for the children. It looked as if all the activities would be organized and run through the school. They’d stay a little later than usual and take a later bus home. Mary looked to her brother. “Was there anything you wanted to do?”

Randy squirmed slightly as he looked around. No one was looking at him and he quickly pointed to one. Mary smiled at his choice. “I have some of my old dance shoes you can use until we get new ones.” The little boy smiled until Warren spoke up.

“You used to do ballet?”

Randy looked up at the boy. He’d forgotten the pyro was here, as had Mary. She searched his face. Not many people would be all right with a young boy learning to do ballet. They might say that it was only for girls and that there might be something wrong with Randy. But Warren was only curious. He looked down at Randy. “Why ballet?”

Thought his face was red, Randy was happy that the boy he looked up to didn’t think he was weird for wanting to do dance. “Isabel took me to a few shows and taught me a few things because she does ballet to stay fit for her modeling job. I want to do things like they do in the Nutcracker and The Little Mermaid.”

Mary smiled and pulled out a pen from Randy’s bag. She quickly filled in the contact information and signed her father’s signature on the permission slip.

“Won’t your dad get angry?” Will asked, noticing her actions.

Mary shrugged. “He’s busy but I know he’d approve of after school activities.” She looked to her sister. “And what do you want to do, Suzy?”

The girl grinned and pulled out her own papers. A few things were circles. Mary scanned them with a chuckle. “Hockey, tennis, swimming, band, basketball, soccer, baseball, football.” She shook her head. “You can only choose a max of two, Suzy.”

“But I want to do it all,” the little girl whined.

Mary held the paper out. “Two. Randy’s already chosen one and that can be done everyday. You’d best choose two that can alternate days or one that meets at different times.”

Suzy sighed and took the list, staring at her choices. Layla and Magenta returned from the kitchen with new drinks and a few snacks they’d grabbed from the cupboard. They set them on the table but Magenta looked over Suzy’s shoulder. “Why not try band? Learn an instrument?”

“But band is for nerds,” Zach said. “All clarinets and piccolos and tubas. Why do that?” He grabbed a small chip bag, pulling the top open.

Magenta frowned at her boyfriend. “I was in band.” Zach paused, turning to her with wide eyes. “I played the clarinet.” Mary could see the hard swallow as Zach tried to think of some way to backpedal. Magenta turned back to Suzy. “I also learned to play the guitar. If there’s an instrument you want to learn, go ahead and learn it.” She then turned to Randy. “Same thing with dance. Do what you want because it makes you happy.”

“Wow,” Mary said with a smile. “Very inspirational.”

Magenta blushed a bit. Suzy thought for a moment. “If I learned an instrument, could we start a band?”

“Dude, that would be awesome,” Zach said. “We could rock out and have sweet gigs with lights and-”

“Who said you could join?” Magenta asked.

“Who else would be lead singer?”

“Warren could,” Suzy said.

“What? And miss my natural showman abilities?” Zach put a hand to his chest. “I’m hurt, little lamb.”

Suzy smiled slightly and looked at the list of activities. “I’ll do hockey and band.” She turned to her brother. “Why don’t you do hockey with me? It’ll be fun.”

“But I want to do ballet.”

“Why can’t you do both?”

“But I’ll get hurt in hockey.”

“You’ll get hurt in ballet, too. Why not try it and see if you like it? If not, I won’t make you stay.”

“It seems like a good idea,” Mary said. “Besides, it might help you in your ballet, too. You remember that story on the news a while back about some football players doing ballet because it helped with their balance? What if doing hockey helped with you dancing?”

Randy looked between his sisters. “You won’t make me stay if I don’t want to?”

“Promise,” Mary said. Suzy nodded.

“Ok,” the boy said.

Mary took the sign up papers and filled in the forms. She folded them and handed them back. “Make sure you get these to your teachers. Go put them in your bags.”

“And then we’ll check out the next movie.” Ethan picked up the choices. “How about _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_?”

“Oh, dude, yes,” Zach said. “Let’s get our sugar rush on.”

Magenta raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. “Pretty sure you’re on enough sugar rush for everyone.”

Mary chuckled. The twins returned and were about to sit when Mary shook her head. “Change into your pajamas, you two. Then it’s time for your homework.”

Randy groaned. “Do we have to? What about the movies?”

“Homework first.” Mary looked around at the others. “That should probably go for everyone.”

Zach frowned. “When did you shift into Mom mode?”

“When I saw the amount of homework I got for missing two days. Best not to let it pile up.” The teens didn’t seem to like that idea. “We’ll watch the other movies afterward. Promise.”

“She’s got a point,” Ethan said. “We could probably get it done faster as a group. If we keep each other on track.”

“All right,” Zach said, grudgingly picking his bag up.

The twins finished their work first, though it took a while for Suzy to get through her Geography homework. The teens’, however, took a while longer. An hour later, they finally finished their work.

Mary leaned back against the couch and stretched her legs out along the floor. She rolled her head to the side and smiled at Warren’s ponytail. She reached out, lazily flipping the hair. He raised an eyebrow at her, which she returned with a tired smile. “It’s soft,” she said.

“How tired are you?” Warren asked. Mary shrugged. “You should get some sleep.” She nodded and leaned against his shoulder. He made a good pillow; his warmth spreading through her body and making her drift off. She was shifted slightly but didn’t mind when she grew warmer and was surrounded by the spicy musk that could only be Warren. She drifted off to sleep with a smile.

 


End file.
